Sleep is the New Status Symbol: Bar Talk with Eric Bartosz

If you set your clocks ahead a few weeks ago and felt a little off the next day, you weren’t imagining it. That groggy ‘DST Monday’ after we spring forward isn’t just inconvenient, it’s clinically dangerous. According to the American Heart Association, the single lost hour from Daylight Saving Time results in an average 24 percent spike in heart attacks across the U.S. that day. And every fall, when we gain that hour back, heart attacks drop by 21 percent. 

I’ve been making the case for proper sleep for a long time, whether that’s with friends, family, in training sessions, client meetings or in the classroom. If there’s a chance to tie in how important sleep is to our physical and mental performance, without exception, I’m on it. Back in 2023, I wrote a column called “More ZZZ’s Please” where I framed sleep as a miracle drug available at no charge, with no side effects, same-day delivery included. It’s still just as relevant, but the interest level in sleep has grown significantly since then. Plenty of us cared about getting proper sleep back in 2023, of course, but in the few years since then the topic of sleep prioritization is moving from the outer edges into mainstream consciousness as a focal point of conversation.

From Bragging About Burnout to Bragging About Bed

Not long ago, a status symbol in American professional culture was how little sleep you could survive on, and hustle culture made sleeplessness a badge of honor. We glorified exhaustion as though it represented a competitive advantage, tried to power through it, and, especially in business, associated rest with weakness. I speak from experience as I was averaging 5 hours a night through my 30s, before I changed my ridiculous mindset about sleep being a waste of time.

That era, thankfully for all of us, seems to be ending fast.

Today, people are openly sharing their sleep scores from wearable biotech like Oura Rings, bands from WHOOP and Hume, and of course watches. Apple, Fitbit and Garmin along with many other brands provide a report card each morning that show us the data on key metrics from the night before. REM, latency and efficiency are topics being discussed like yuppies once argued over which bar in town had the best happy hour.

Sleep optimization is becoming a foundation of our health and fitness focus with technology allowing us to have a measurable baseline that, not that long ago, was only available to us if we spent the night in a sleep lab. Since Covid, the overall trend of living healthier continues to increase across all generations, but Gen Z and Millennials deserve extra credit for normalizing and promoting the idea of living our best life through healthier habits than we (speaking as a member of Gen X) had in our younger years.

As an interesting corollary of health prioritization of the younger generations, alcohol consumption is at a record low based on the 90 years the Gallup Poll has been tracking the data. For 18 to 34-year-olds, the 2025 poll shows that only 50 percent drink alcohol, and for all U.S. adults, the number is 54 percent, and for the people who do still drink, the frequency and amounts are also trending downward based on concerns about negative health impacts caused by drinking. What’s worth mentioning is that drinking sabotages our sleep, so the Gallup data comes as no surprise that as more people prioritize sleep quality, they will simultaneously lose interest in activities that are detrimental to the main goal of health. (Read more: Gallup Poll 2025: U.S. Drinking Rate at New Low as Alcohol Concerns Surge)

The bottom line is sleep isn’t the forgotten or ignored pillar of health anymore; for many of us, it’s become a headliner, which makes sense as it sets the stage for each of our days.

The ‘Why’

People who sleep less than six hours per night carry a 10 percent higher mortality risk compared to those getting seven to nine hours, and those averaging six to seven hours still face a 4 percent increased mortality risk. Short sleep is also a contributing factor to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s.

In other words, until we find we find a cure for that terrible disease, the best preventive medicine we can take every day is a proper night’s sleep.

The workplace cost is also significant. Another 2025 Gallup analysis found that poor sleepers take more than double the number of unplanned absence days compared to adequate sleepers, translating into an estimated $44 billion in annual productivity loss. And that doesn’t even account for presenteeism, defined by showing up physically while your brain is running on fumes.

The NSF’s 2025 poll found that 72 percent of people with good sleep health were flourishing; defined as being happy, productive at work and home, achieving goals and maintaining fulfilling social relationships, compared to just 46 percent of poor sleepers. (Read more: NSF 2025 Sleep in America poll)

That gap is enormous, and people are starting to connect the dots that the life we aspire to is within reach with some zero cost upgrades to our approach to sleep.

The Plan

The fundamentals haven’t changed, and while I love the technology and daily data of my Oura ring, you don’t need to invest money to get a solid night’s sleep; only your time. One of the most underappreciated concepts is the difference between sleep opportunity and actual sleep. If your goal is seven hours of sleep and you get into bed at 11 p.m. with a 6 a.m. alarm, you’re not getting seven hours; you’re likely getting closer to six, once you factor in the time to fall asleep and the natural micro-awakenings that happen throughout the night. Plan to give yourself eight hours of sleep opportunity to actually achieve the seven.

Beyond that, consistent sleep and wake times every day of the week, a cool and dark room, avoiding screens an hour before bed and cutting out the caffeine 6-8 hours before sleep are important sleep hygiene tips. I’d say avoid alcohol during that same time window, but if you’re a drinker, that’s when you’re probably doing it, so be mindful that every drink close to bedtime is decreasing the amount of REM sleep you will be achieving that night.

For anyone who wants to go deep on the science of sleep, I’ll repeat the same book recommendation I made in 2023, because it remains, in my opinion, the best resource out there: Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker. It personally changed how I approach sleep, and it will likely do the same for you. Another resource worth checking out is the CDC page on sleep: Sleep | CDC.

The whole “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality meant we spent decades wearing exhaustion like a luxury watch, a signal to the world that we were too busy to waste time with our eyes closed. The irony is that the real status symbol is fast becoming the prioritization of making each day the best and healthiest possible while looking and feeling our best. What’s especially awesome is that it’s available to all of us for free, every night, no exclusive membership required.

Remember, today is the youngest you will ever be. Make it the best one ever and end it with a solid night’s sleep!