You ever stop and think about how weird sleep is?

Every night, we voluntarily turn off—completely unconscious, defenseless, drooling on our pillow for six to eight hours—while the rest of the world keeps spinning. From an evolutionary standpoint, that’s insane.

If sleep didn’t serve a critical purpose, evolution would’ve tossed it in the garbage fire with other bad ideas—like wisdom teeth and low-rise jeans.

But it didn’t.
It kept it. For millions of years.

So yeah, the fact that evolution still makes us power down nightly means sleep isn’t optional. It’s mandatory system maintenance. Ignore it long enough, and you’re basically running high-performance software on a potato battery.

Why Sleep = Survival

When you zoom out, performance is just another word for survival.

Want to perform better? Teach your body how to survive better.

Sleep is the ultimate survival skill. During sleep, you consolidate memory, repair muscle tissue, regulate hormones, and clean out the brain gunk that builds up when you’re awake (thank you, glymphatic system).

In other words:
No sleep, no adaptation.
No sleep, no gainZ.
No sleep, no functioning frontal cortex—aka your decision-making HQ.

You’re Probably More Sleep Deprived Than You Think

Here’s the kicker: the more sleep deprived you are, the less you realize it.

Researchers love this one. They bring in college students swearing they’re “totally fine,” toss them into a dark lab, and hand them a mind-numbing task.

Within minutes—bam—heads nodding, micro-naps happening, and keyboards catching drool.

That’s not elite grit. That’s your nervous system waving a white flag.

The scary part? Most of us are walking around in that same fog, too fried to notice.

The 5-Hour Sleep Club: Welcome to the Denial Olympics

Let’s talk about the badge of honor worn by “high performers.”
You know the type: business moguls, start-up grinders, caffeine-fueled productivity ninjas.

They brag about sleeping four and a half hours a night like it’s a flex.

For years, the myth went:

“I function great on five hours of sleep!”

Spoiler: you don’t.

What actually happens? Your baseline for “normal” gets so wrecked that you forget what feeling good even is.

Then the data came in—mountains of it—and it turns out cutting your sleep like that doesn’t just tank performance; it’s a slow-motion health car crash.

Cardiovascular stress, hormone chaos, brain fog that makes you forget where you parked your own nervous system.

The Good News: Sleep Is Trainable

Here’s the plot twist—most of those same “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” types have wised up.

Now they’re the ones tracking deep sleep, wearing Oura rings, and bragging about bedtime routines instead of all-nighters.

Because when they finally start sleeping enough?
Their brain lights up again.
Their workouts stop feeling like uphill death marches.
Their metabolism thanks them.

It’s almost like… nature knew what it was doing.

Your Playbook (aka How Not to Self-Sabotage Your Sleep):

  • Aim for 7–9 hours. That’s not weakness—it’s repair.
  • Treat your bedroom like a sleep cave: dark, cool, quiet.
  • Ditch screens 30–60 minutes before bed (I know, heresy).
  • Don’t worship caffeine like a false god past noon.
  • Train hard, but don’t train late.

Simple. Not sexy. But it works.

So yeah, next time someone brags about running on four hours, let ’em.

You’ll be too busy recovering, rebuilding, and out-performing them tomorrow.

Because sleep isn’t wasted time.

It’s evolution’s original performance enhancer.

Much love,
Dr Mike

Note: The accompanying image was generated using AI to visually represent the concepts discussed in this article. It is not a real photograph or depiction of actual events.

P.S. – If you want the nerdy physiology behind how sleep boosts recovery, metabolism, and brain function, check out the full episode of the Flex Diet Podcast with Dr. Jay Wiles and Dr. Jeff Durmer from Absolute Rest. Spoiler: it’s not about buying a better pillow—it’s about respecting biology.

Or watch on YouTube.

P.P.S. Want to put this into practice?

If you’re ready to train smarter (not longer) and build a physiology that can handle anything—from short sprints to savage lifts—check out my Meathead Cardio Course.

It’s everything I use to blend strength, conditioning, and metabolic flexibility without turning your workouts into marathon misery.

Meathead Cardio Course << details here