Katie McManus narrates her experience as a former "I'll sleep when I'm dead" person who routinely deprived herself of sleep and then crashed on weekends. She emphasizes that sleep is crucial for brain health — it's when the brain clears waste and removes problematic material — recommends 7–9 hours of sleep, and notes that people with ADHD often need more sleep because their brains work harder during the day. She uses a "city dump" metaphor to describe the effects of insufficient sleep.
Chapters
I want to just come out of the closet and name that I am a recovering I'll sleep when I'm dead kind of person.
I used to rob.
Myself of sleep at every chance I got.
I would constantly.
Burn the candle at both ends.
I would stay up late, I would get up early, and.
Then I would crash and burn on the weekends and all weekend.
I would just have to.
Recover from killing myself at work and killing myself having fun and doing all these different things and not getting enough sleep. Getting enough sleep is one of the best things you can do for your brain. Studies have shown that your brain actually doesn't have.
Like a waste removal system like the rest of your body does.
The only time your brain is actually.
Able to declutter and get rid of dead cells.
Anything that's problematic is while you're sleeping. It's the only time.
So literally.
If you're not giving yourself enough sleep, and I'm talking seven to nine hours, and those of us with.
Adhd, we.
Actually need more sleep than neurotypicals because our brains work.
Harder throughout the day.
If we're not getting enough sleep. I want you to imagine.
Like, like.
A city dump and people are dropping off garbage and dropping off garbage and it's just sitting there and it's not being moved off site.
Like that's what's.
Happening in your brain. It's becoming a disgusting.
Clogged up.
Smelly mess. And the people who work there wanna quit. That's what happens in your brain when you don't get enough sleep.