Good Energy

Means recalls a surgery she was called into after she had been awake for more than twenty-four hours. The patient did not survive, and Means remembers being unaffected by the death, too tired to care. Means was sleep deprived throughout her five-year residency, and only later did she learn the negative health consequences of sleep deprivation. While her experience is extreme, Means argues that modern lifestyles disrupt natural sleep cycles, leading to widespread sleep deprivation. She asserts that humans have evolved a unique chronobiology, defined as “a pattern of biological activity based on time” impacted by exposure to light and food (187). Disruptions to this chronobiology, she argues, lead to Bad Energy.

Means stresses the importance of sunlight exposure, arguing humans are literally “made of sunlight” via photosynthesis (188). Light exposure impacts where humans are in the sleep-wake cycle, and erratic light exposure contributes to dysfunction. Insulin sensitivity varies throughout the day according to the sleep-wake cycle; thus, proper light exposure is tied to insulin sensitivity. Sunlight also impacts mood, as sunlight exposure is correlated to higher levels of serotonin.

Sleep deprivation, Means asserts, can lead to diseases, including prediabetes, or even death.