In recent times, virtue signalling is becoming an interesting topic of discussion across various aspects of our life, as it is becoming prevalent on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin and it has unfortunately know crept into the topic of how much sleep we have or need.

To me, virtue signaling is the public act of expressing an opinion around a popular social cause whilst trying to demonstrate a moral superiority over others.

Virtue signaling disguises itself as an act of righteousness, but when it comes to sleep deprivation, it is really a hollow boast and one that is concerning considering the Mental Health Crisis we are facing and the severe impacts lack of sleep has on the quaility of most peoples mental health.

Most of us have either been in a meeting or a social function and had someone boast about how they survive on 3-4 Hours of sleep etc or have seen “ celebrities” on social media promoting the same message, that if you are not up by 4am and working until Midnight you are being “out hustled” etc etc

The truth is that sleep deprivation being the chronic lack of sleep built up over time has severe implications for our physical and mental health and it is something that I have personally been through myself a few years ago with serious health affects that took me many months to recover from.

Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to a range of issues, including impaired cognitive function, weakened immune system, and a heightened susceptibility to mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.

There are numerous recent studies on this topic raising concerning findings around an increase in psychiatric disorders in adolescents through to anxiety disorders in adults caused by sleep deprivation and it is something that is too important not to raise as a conversation.

By using the ability to survive on little sleep as a virtue signaling topic, aren't we also devaluing those people who genuinely struggle to fall to sleep?

Instead of using it as a means to boost one's ego or gain social approval, shouldn't we focus on genuine concern for people's well-being by encouraging more open and honest conversations?

I think that sleep deprivation should never be a virtue signaling topic. Although on the surface, lack of sleep is an innocuous topic but it really does have a detrimental impact on our physical and mental health.

Maybe it's time for some people to have a more genuine concern for one another's well-being and to dismantle the harmful ego-led conversations such as the one we are seeing around sleep deprivation.