How to Exploit this Superpower and Improve your Life

The superpower I have rediscovered is something my parents constantly tried to impress upon me growing up but the thing I most readily discarded in my search for more time. Rather than chasing efficiency, I accepted the limitations imposed by a 24 hour day and sacrificed sleep to the detriment of productivity. This wasn’t just idiotic in terms of my physical health but it affected my ability to think, reason and operate at my full capacity every single day. The problem was that I was trying to work harder not smarter.

I existed on 4–6 hours of sleep a night. I believed that I could deploy a mixture or remedies to cure my lethargy and distracted mind. Eventually, my ability to focus on one thing became almost impossible, the mood swings were debilitating and my capacity to get things done was effected. It wasn’t that I couldn’t manage, it’s that the lack of sleep was detrimentally affecting me being the person people expected. I was no longer me, I was exhausted.

The media like to perpetuate the romanticised myth of the creative genius thriving in spite of a lack of rest but the reality is that no change in your life can make as big a difference as getting 8 hours sleep per night. Ironically, it made me feel more tired for a short time period — getting used to existence on less sleep is a habit that takes time to break — but the difference it has made to the quality of my relationships, work output and happiness has been nothing short of remarkable. It has transformed my daily routine from one of forced enthusiasm by injecting it with a superhuman ability to focus and get things done. I feel like a new person because my mind is rested and able to operate at higher capacity. I achieved it by vanquishing tiredness. You can try and do that by using stimulants like coffee or you can get there naturally with sleep.

Sleep is the healthiest stimulant to operate at a superhuman level.

At the same time, my back used to ache every day, self-diagnosed as a lifetime of sports and unimaginably tight hamstrings. I had gotten used to the pain that awoke with me each morning, thinking that it was an affliction of ageing rather than a fundamental lack of support from what I slept on.

The reason I allowed it to persist is that there was no indication that any change or alteration could significantly improve my quality of rest or reduce my pain so I never imagined there was anything I could do about it.

One small change literally changed my entire outlook on life

I got a new mattress on a whim. I’d heard what my friends had said about it and realised I had nothing to lose. We spend 1/3 of our lives on it, why wouldn’t we be willing to spend a little to get a lot? I had never bought a new mattress so felt very hesitant in committing but when you factor in that a mattress lasts 10 years — at a cost of £0.16/$0.23 per night — I quickly realised there’s no better investment I could make to improve my wellbeing. I never imagined for a second it would have such a large impact on my life when I got it—it wasn’t the reason I did — but a number of things have changed simply as a by-product of the purchase.

I got 100 Nights to be Sure and Never Looked Back

I got a new Simba Mattress and it is not hyperbole to suggest it has changed my life. Not only do I awaken each morning feeling more refreshed, the lower back pain that had grown to become the bane of my existence evaporated overnight. This wasn’t something which improved with use, I literally woke up the first morning after sleeping on it and felt like a new person. No back pain or any hint of requirement to stretch/crack out the stiffness at all — a new me.

Amazingly, the whole process was completely risk-free. You either love it and keep it or don’t and get your money back. In my mind, there is no better consumer promise in the world. You literally have nothing to lose, you get 100 night trial to find out whether it suits you and improves the quality of your life or you find out it doesn’t and you send it back and get a full refund.

The Difference has Been Remarkable

I spent the last week in a bed which had previously been the most comfortable I had ever slept in. The mattress was far more expensive than the new Simba Mattress I had been using, yet after my first night on it I knew it was inferior. I spent the night tossing and turning unable to realise the slumber I had grown accustomed to. I’ll listen to your arguments that any change to something you have got used to can be hard, but this persisted for the entire week. Getting used to it never helped, my back pain returned with a vengeance.

There was another unforeseen benefit which was a significant improvement over my old mattress.

You don’t feel the mattress move when your partner gets up! That might seem like a small thing, but when you pause to think about it how many times are you awoken by your partner or spouse moving or getting out of bed? Over the years, I had grown to believe that people were simply not designed to sleep next to other people. If I got up in the night, it was impossible to do so without waking my partner and vice versa. The mattresses we used dipped to make sleeping uncomfortable, but this mattress resolves this issue completely. The technology it uses distributes weight more evenly which doesn’t result in the same problems. You don’t just get a better sleep, your partner does as well.

My first 100 nights on it have been nothing short of a revelation. Sleep, particularly high-quality sleep, is inextricably linked to our overall happiness. When we’re sleep deprived, our risk for depression increases and we’re more likely to experience higher stress levels. I genuinely feel the benefits of both the increase in volume of sleep I am getting and the product which I am using to get it. More sleep is one thing, it has to be the right kind on the best surface.

I’m happier, better rested, less stressed and working at a higher capacity than I have in years, and that can all be attributed to more, higher quality sleep on the world most technologically advanced sleeping platform.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t block snoring, but that’s likely the next revolution…

So you want to be Superhuman?

The trick isn’t productivity hacks, stimulants or blind hope, the secret is sleep. No habit will reward you as easily as investing in your own rest and the right mattress is an essential partner in enabling the best recuperation every night.

Don’t believe me?

Take 100 nights and find out for yourself (this is a referral link — that also gets you $50 off any Simba Sleep product)

this is a referral link — that gets you $50 off any Simba Sleep product

A marshmallow, infused with a cloud, strapped into a harness

That’s what it feels like every night when I lay down in bed to fall asleep

How to Exploit this Superpower and Improve your Life was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.