is a PhD student in philosophy at the University of Sheffield, UK. His research focuses on how contemporary philosophical practices alienate us from the Earth, and what it means to be a geophilosopher in and for the 21st century. He writes the Substack Making Philosophy Matter.
In 2021, while working from home at my corporate law gig, I became obsessed with napping. Throughout my working life, the post-lunch slump felt like an unavoidable feature of the 9-to-5. Then I read Why We Sleep (2017) by Matthew Walker.
It was one of a new breed of popular books that used scientific research to deepen our understanding of everyday activities. This book did two things for me. First, it justified my post-lunch nap as a way of optimising my afternoons.
Second, and more importantly, it transformed what I considered to be an unavoidable feature of life into a fixable bug. Going beyond the science of sleep, it presented me with the taste of a new approach to life, one that could, if taken to the extreme, conceivably reduce my life to a series of problems amenable to practicable solutions. Equipped with this newfound confidence in the power of solving life’s problems, I went on a reading spree.
I cultivated atomic habits. I learned the Wim Hof Method. Embraced the plasticity of my own brain.
Lined my kitchen with jars of home-made sauerkraut. Eating well, exercising regularly, learning new skills – these are cornerstones of many self-improvement regimes. Who would not welcome a bit of science to shed more light on how these work?
Extract — continue reading at the source.
