The Sunday Digest 183
"And I can see our days are becoming night."
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you.
Sunday Read: Fight Sleepism. Nap Now.
by By James Gorman from Aug. 8, 1993 in The New York Times
It used to be an accident. I would lie down on the couch to watch something on a Sunday afternoon when suddenly the sun was going down and something else would be auto-playing on the screen. My naps were more accidental than intentional, more of something I fell into rather than sought out.
Today, however, they’ve become more regular. My eyes seem to be heaviest around 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon — which, I admit, is not exactly ideal. But if I can sneak something in earlier? Perfect. Never more than an hour.
My perfect nap setup includes (but is not limited to): shades drawn, a light blanket, the couch (because the bed seems dangerous), something lightly playing on the television, a book I won’t read on the coffee table, and a large water next to it.
While I’m more of a JV napper than a varsity napper, I’ve still come to appreciate the practice. This week’s Sunday Read from 1993 explores just that: the nap. Here’s an excerpt:
Beyond disaster prevention, there is a clear consensus among sleep researchers that, as Dinges writes, napping can be “normal, appropriate and beneficial.” Sleeping for 15 minutes to two hours in the early afternoon can reduce stress, improve alertness and perhaps even help prevent heart disease. In healthy people, napping is not a cause of sleep disorders, and it’s usually not a symptom of them either. About 60 percent of American adults nap at least once a week. They usually do it roughly midway between waking up in the morning and going to sleep at night, and not because of big lunches or warm weather. Human beings seem to have “a midafternoon quiescent phase,” also called “a secondary sleep gate.”
In other words, we were born to nap.
Read in full here.
The Sunday Haiku
Right now it’s burning
like a candle in the wind —
can you trim the wick?
Things I Saved This Week
My Sunday To-Do List
There’s a full suitcase comprised 100% of dirty clothes sitting somewhere it shouldn’t be. This must be remedied today.
It feels like a day where either (1) a swim or (2) an aquatic yard activity is in play.
Unfortunately, watch Euphoria which I’m only watching because I’m pot-committed at this point. I want it to end.
Is it a grill night? It feels like it may be a grill night.
Finish A Moveable Feast. I’ve only got a few chapters left and I’m glad I read again years after I originally read it. Highly recommend getting a paperback to travel with — a great trip book.
Drop off film, but I worry it will be too busy at our film lab today.
I hope your Sunday cures you in some way, shape, or form.
— Will
I’m also reading A Moveable Feast right now Will. Scott Fitzgerald really can’t hold his liquor!