As someone who used to run on nearly no sleep, I remember stumbling through marathon training sleep-deprived and constantly getting ill. I've since embraced getting enough sleep and, despite fewer hours awake, I'm so much happier and more productive — and I'm not the only one who thinks I'm better off. Tinder is joining The Huffington Post’s #SleepRevolution with a little in-app quiz asking you questions about getting enough sleep to bring the importance of good night's rest to the Millennial masses.
According to a press release: "The quiz ultimately reveals whether you are a ‘Sleep Champion’ or ‘Sleep Amateur’ and guides users to a newly-built HuffPost page with resources to learn more about the importance of sleep. The in-app quiz is also paired with a special video message from Arianna Huffington herself, encouraging users to share their opinions and attitudes toward sleep and the behaviors and habits that can help improve it."
I think it's great news. We need to stop thinking of it as being really cool to run on coffee and three hours sleep, and start focusing on getting enough rest. (Don't worry, running on coffee is still allowed because there's no chance I can stop that any time soon.) There are loads of things to know about sleep:
Sleep is so important for your own health, plus it makes you so much better to be around. Here are five ways getting enough sleep makes you a better date. But first, check out the latest episode of Bustle's Sex and Relationships podcast, I Want It That Way:
1. You Need It To Keep Looking Fresh
We all know that we look a little worse for wear without enough sleep, but science has even proven it. According to Huffington Post: "Beauty sleep is legit. A small study published last year in the journal SLEEP found that sleep deprived study participants were rated as less attractive and sadder." SADDER. You look sad when you don't sleep — not the best way to meet up with that new Tinder match.
2. It Keeps Your Mind Sharp
Being sleep deprived makes you cognitively equivalent of being drunk, according to research from University of Oxford and the Royal Society for public health. If you want to keep your mind and conversation sharp to make a good first impression, sleep is a must. A study from the University of California, Berkeley found that a lack of sleep may "hinder a person’s ability to accurately read the emotions of others by dulling the person’s ability to read facial expressions." That's something you definitely need on a date.
3. It Detaches You From Your Phone
We all know that phones are keeping us from getting enough sleep. The horrible light, the waking yourself up right before bed, it's all bad. And if you start to detach from it enough to get enough sleep, that should help keep you off your phone on a date, because no one likes someone swiping and scrolling during dinner.
4. It Keeps Your Emotions Stable
A 2015 study in New Scientist showed that when we don't get enough sleep, we lose control of our emotions. We overreact and we can't rank the importance of things. I just went a weekend with too much staying up late at a comedy festival and too little sleep and found my emotions were totally out of whack the whole time. When you're dating someone — whether for the first time or in a long-term relationship— you want to be able to have some perspective and control over your emotions. So if you feel yourself losing control, sleep on it.
5. No Coffee Breath
OK, so my coffee habit isn't going anywhere, but if you get enough sleep to wean your way off yours, no more coffee breath. And a world with less coffee breath is surely a better world.
Images: Courtesy of Tinder and Huffington Post
