Ive tried nearly every trick imaginable to get more restful sleep.
This post originally appeared on theFerenstein Wire.
No time is kept or displayed anywhere.
Instead, campers are told to show up for lunch around midday.
Or, say, a camp singalong may start in about the length of a Simpsons episode.
At first, I didnt think much of this unusual clockless feature.
In fact, I found the lack of rigorous scheduling a tad irritating.
But as the weekend went on, I felt awash with unusual calma calm I didnt experience elsewhere.
Indeed, after I left the loving embrace of a clockless existence, my fatigue returned.
I tried in vain to replicate my bliss, but couldnt even on weekends vacationing in other natural environments.
Yet, everyone morning I woke up wasted.
The good doctors report revealed that stress was the culprit of my perpetual fatiguea metric that consumer-grade devices ignore.
You should relax, Dr. Anda Baharav wrote to me.
I learned a key lesson: the body prepares for sleep all day long.
If I wanted a good nights sleep, I had to change my behavior as soon as I awoke.
The odd thing was, I dontfeelstressed.
Like many of my creative class brethren, Im a pleasant workaholic, happily working 10+ hours a day.
I love my work and am totally cool responding to emails well after sunset.
Unfortunately, a range of measures suggested that my body was not so cool with my lifestyle choice.
Stress related sleep problems are extremely common among professionals and tech workers, writesDr.
Robin Berzin, Founder of Parsley Health, a functional medicine startup helping me sort through all the data.
So, what does Camp Grounded do differently?
Camp Groundeds Fight Against FOMO
Access to the worlds information is both a blessing and a curse.
Camp Grounded spends a conspicuous amount of resources helping campers understand that the weekend is a no FOMO zone.
During the daytime schedule of elective activities, event times and locations are only loosely signed.
Its damn near impossible to plan the day more than an hour ahead.
The point is to learn how to be happy regardless of what else could be going on.
Being present is a skill.
Often a frustration for some campers, no clocks was one of the first rules that he established.
What is problematic about the culture is that FOMO drives everything, he warns.
Yes, we have a jam packed experience with friends connected around the world.
And, even if its superfun, our cortisol levels are running high the entire weekend.
Many of us are already tapped out, and vacation has become about the-next-best-thing instead of deep de-stressing.
Does it, actually?
It was the closest thing I could wear to measure stress during a weekend without gadgets.
If any of my fellow campers asked, Id say it was just a harmless braceletdefinitely not technology.
When in doubt, Id just let serendipity determine my fun for the day.
In the early morning, I spied a hot meditation tent by the babbling lake.
It was a painfully unplanned day.
But, I dozed off that night without dancing opportunity costs racing through my mind.
When I woke up the next day, I was reunited with an old friend on our anniversaryrestfulness.
Camp Groundeds no clocks strategy worked.
To be sure, this isnt a complete solution.
Most of us obviously cant ditch clocks during the workday.
Its also a super useful insight to explore further how to take stress out of my day.
Image byAngkrit(Shutterstock).
