Kimberley Petty gets on average three to five hours of broken sleep a night. She gets up through the night to feed her 11-month-old son and then wakes at 6am to go to work full-time. ”I never complain, always have my make-up done and soldier on as any good working mother does,” the 21-year-old from Brisbane says. ”The foggy brain and droopy eyes catch up with you every now and again, but you keep going. It’s just part of life today. I wanted the career, it’s my choice to be sleep deprived.”
For Petty and those like her, cutting back on sleep is the only way to cram more into the day. They are part of a growing trend of sleep hacking, where the endless demands of work and family life push sleep to the bottom of the pile of priorities.
Sleep coaches and self-help books are offering advice to determined sleep hackers on how to train body and mind to cope with getting less than five hours’ sleep a night. They suggest tips for quality sleep, believing that it is the quality rather than the quantity of sleep that is the most important.
Richard Bowles from Victoria says he gets about five hours’ sleep a night because of his hectic schedule. The 35-year-old adventure runner, author and coach runs a minimum of 20 kilometres a day on trails at 4.30am and works until 10pm. ”Sleep is for suckers,” he says. ”I believe there is no such thing as burnout. If I’m asleep, I’m missing out. Sometimes I get a little upset that I get tired at night, as I’m so focused on getting stuff done.”