Huffington Post and Glamour.com Team Up To Combat "Feminist" Sleep Issue

Cindi Leive may only sleep five-and-a-half hours a day as Glamour's editor, but she "honestly believe[s] that sleep is a feminist issue," and, along with Arianna Huffington, she will spend the next month forcing herself to get a full seven-and-a-half hours of rest every night, whether she likes it or not. Leive and Huffington will be blogging about their Sleep Challenge 2010 on The Huffington Post and glamour.com and are inviting other women to join them. I have to say I personally feel very strongly about this issue, since I clocked in two hours of sleep this morning, and haven't been able to fall asleep until 3 a.m. in months. Not sure if it's particularly a women's issue or just a hazard of meeting deadlines as a blogger (where work doesn't end until you shut down your computer). But it will be interesting to gauge other people's reactions to the challenge. Will Huffington lose her edge if she has to sleep a normal human allotment, as she is already one-upping Leive and promising a full eight hours? (In the first sleep-related post, Huffington claims that she arrived at that figure "through trial and error as the number of hours it takes for her to be at her most creative and effective and have the most fun while being creative and effective," a message that already seems a tad redundant and sleep-deprived.) Regardless, I will be embarking on the same resolution myself starting tonight: in bed by midnight with no computer, no matter what. Hopefully I won't have to count too many digital sheep before I turn myself off. Press release after the jump. Read More: Sleep Challenge 2010: Women, It's Time to Sleep Our Way to the Top. Literally. --Huffington Post ARIANNA HUFFINGTON AND CINDI LEIVE LAUNCH "SLEEP CHALLENGE 2010" TO PROVE THAT IF YOU WANT TO GET AHEAD AS A WOMAN, GO TO BED! Editors-in-Chief of The Huffington Post and Glamour Pledge to Get a Full Night's Sleep; Their Blog Posts Appear on Huffingtonpost.com and Glamour.com New York, NY, January 4 -- Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, and Cindi Leive, editor-in-chief of Glamour, are teaming up to raise awareness of a female health crisis: sleep deprivation. The average American woman gets just over six and a half hours of sleep a night. Starting today, Huffington and Leive commit to getting at least seven and a half hours of sleep -- the minimum doctors recommend -- for a month. They will each blog twice a week, with posts appearing jointly on glamour.com and huffingtonpost.com. Readers of both sites are encouraged to join the challenge. Sleep is one of the most important issues women face today. "Women are significantly more sleep-deprived than men," confirms Michael Breus, Ph.D, who advised on the challenge. "They may know that sleep should be a priority, but it gets low on the totem pole, and that's when it starts to get bad." The health consequences of sleep deprivation are well-documented, from stress to auto accidents to weight gain. "Cindi and I recently attended a women's conference and noticed how many high achievers were skipping sleep in their quest to 'do it all,'" says Huffington. "We want to remind women that sleep isn't an optional luxury, but a necessity that pays priceless dividends, from increased productivity to more happiness and creativity." "It may sound farfetched, but I honestly believe that sleep is a feminist issue," says Cindi Leive (who freely admits that she clocks only five-and-change a night). "As women, we spend a lot of time talking about how to achieve control of our lives and power in this country, but really, what kind of a shot do we have at that if we're walking around half-asleep all the time? So many women I know cheat themselves out of sleep because unlike work and family commitments, it seems optional -- but of course it isn't. We want to tell women that itâ€™s not selfish or lazy to put themselves first, at least for seven-and-a-half hours a day!" As part of Sleep Challenge 2010, The Huffington Post Living Section features research on the impact of sleep deprivation, advice from former insomniacs, dream interpretations and more. Glamour.com features personalized expert advice from top sleep researchers and a "Sleepstakes" giveaway of lingerie and a bed. Readers can log on to glamour.com and the huffingtonpost.com every Monday and Thursday through January to read Huffington's and Leive's posts on their progress.

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Huffington Post and Glamour.com Team Up To Combat "Feminist" Sleep Issue

Drew Grant

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Drew Grant