Sleeping is a Right.

I slept through the entire trip to Batangas today. When we got there in the morning, I ended up sleeping under the sun while my sisters were in the beach. I was groggy during lunch so I had siesta in the cabana. Unfortunately, my deep sleep was interrupted because we had to leave already … so I just continued sleeping in the car. Come to think of it, the only time I was awake was during meals and I was pretty decent to talk to, considering I was with my family. This is me without caffeine, and I like it.

It is very unfortunate that in our fast-paced world, sleeping has been stigmatized. Sleeping for more than six hours is already unfairly labeled sloth, as if this action, or actually, inaction, is at the same level as pride and envy. We all know that sleep has a magical effect on all our worries. Even John Steinbeck agrees to this – “It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it”. Even Albert Einstein slept for at least ten hours a day, compare that to our President who claims that she only sleeps for four hours. God knows she must be in a zombie state when she declared the state of emergency. In essence, sleepyheads, not the half-crazed sleep deniers do less damage to the world.

So I appeal to those planning to be heads of state or UN Secretary General, please include “At least eight hours of sleep for all by 2015” in the Millennium Development Goals and “Sleeping is a Right” in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Countries that do not accede to this must be labeled rogue states.