Philosophy of Sleep and Habit - Essay Example

Philosophy of Sleep and Habit Philosophy of Sleep and Habit In the first article, it is clear that people do not just make all the choices consciously. Instead, people make some choices sub-consciously. Even though people may decide to make certain choices and swear to stick by them, there are habitual forces that will tend to pull people back. Picking on the first case, individuals who subscribed for gym lessons paid more while those who attended per session paid less. The philosophy is that regardless of the dedication subscribers had, they were most likely to give up, whereas, those who paid per session, were most likely to maintain.

The second article implies that there are numerous factors controlling sleep patterns and not just technological influence. New research enclosed that the San people who lived their night in darkness slept less than the Americans who had all entertainment, electronic gadgets, and electricity. Americans being busy people throughout the day, come home when they are too tired. Tiredness induces sleep. The San people are hunters and gatherers and do not have that intense mental exhaustion to induce much sleep.

Sleep is a natural phenomenon that relaxes the brain in preparation for the following day’s mental activity (Williams, 2008). Individuals are almost rational in our choices. People make decisions. Being irrationally rational is absurd. Even though sometimes people follow the demands of their desires but when the brain is engaged, people can make rational decisions unless they are oblivious of the knowledge or wisdom needed to make a decision. It is true that most of the choices individuals make in life are habitual.

Habits follow desires and people usually like activities that are habitual, because if fulfills their satisfaction. However, not all habits are good for health. To control following the habitual demands, one has to be aware of the habit to make informed and sound decisions (Covey, 2013). Only after being aware of the consequences of the habit can on engage the reasoning mind and make rational decisions. Even though the concept of reward and penalty might sound or might even appear practicable, it is improper to use financial reward or penalty to install a good habit or give up a bad one by strengthening willpower.

Decisions are made from a sound and conscious mind. It takes acceptance and will to make a rational decision and filter what to accept as a good habit and discard that regarded as a bad one (Covey, 2013). Personal commitment contract in an Islamic point of view could mean coming into a personal contract, agreement or covenant with one’s self toward fulfilling a specific task or goal. It is like having a diving interaction with one’s self and promising to accomplish a goal – a goal, which you must commit to henceforth.

Individuals do not need to sleep for seven hours. They can sleep for more or less hours. Scientific findings have conflicting ideas because sleeping depends on factors (Williams, 2008). As aforementioned, sleep is a mechanism for relaxing brain to gather mental energy for executing awaiting activities. An individual with less mental duties does not require as much sleep as another preparing for active mental activities. References Covey, S. R. (2013). The 8th Habit: From effectiveness to greatness.

Simon and Schuster. Williams, S. J. (2008). The sociological significance of sleep: Progress, problems and prospects. Sociology Compass, 2(2), 639-653.