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Sleep, Soda, Tipping, and Ambition

Richie Crowley
Richie Crowley
@RickieTicklez
I’ve been sleeping for more than 30 years.
The back of the napkin math says that I’ve tallied more than 90,000+ hours of sleep.
That’s more than 10 years.
The assumption in this calculation is that I’ve averaged 8 hours of nightly sleep over the course of my life.
This puts me in the top 65% of sleepers.
More than a third of adults fail to obtain the recommended seven to nine hours of nightly sleep - a figure borrowed from Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep.
Walker’s book also taught me that after 10 days of just seven hours of sleep, the brain is as dysfunctional as it would be after going without sleep for 24 hours.
And, that the recycle rate of a human being is around 16 hours.
This means that after 16 hours of being awake, the brain begins to fail.
There is a part of me that wishes I never read Why We Sleep.
Sometimes there’s comfort in being oblivious.
Now, I’d just be ignorant.
Equipped with knowledge from Walker and his peers, I kind of have to treat sleep the same way I treat my plate, my movement, and my mind.
I may even need to prioritize it over those.
“I was fond of saying that sleep is the third pillar of good health, alongside diet and exercise, but I have changed my tune. Sleep is more than a pillar; it is the foundation on which the other two health bastions sit.” - Matthew Walker

11 Ways To Sleep Better Tonight
I encourage you to read Why We Sleep, or listen to Matthew Walker’s appearances on The Rich Roll podcast and Huberman Lab.
From these pieces, I’ve organized a report that includes fast, possibly startling, facts on sleep, the ROI of sleep, and the 11 tips that Walker and his peers claim will return a better night of sleep.
11 Ways To Sleep Better Tonight
11 Ways To Sleep Better Tonight
Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer, enhances your memory, makes you more creative, keeps you slim, wards off colds and the flu, and makes you happier.
rickieticklez.medium.com
What Color Was Your Pee This Morning?
I used to call going to the bathroom a “hydration check.”
If only it were that simple. 
If you’ve been following along for the past few years, you know that I’m kind of the beverage guy now. 
What most of you don’t know is that I’ve been a beverage guy since the age of 18, when I started breaking down boxes at the only liquor store on campus. 
By graduation, I was the weekend manager.
My love for alcohol has since evolved into a love for all things non-alcoholic. 
Across 15,000 words and 33 episodes of Off The Rocks, I’ve evolved again to love all things non-alcoholic and low-to-no sugar. 
Too many mocktail recipes call for ginger beer, juice, or soda mixers with more grams of sugar than ounces in the drink. 
If alcohol, smoking, and poor diet and lifestyle are the three leading causes of preventable death, removing alcohol only to insert sugar isn’t helpful. 
It’s harmful. 
That’s why I’m taking some space to shout out a beverage brand from Cleveland.
Nooma’s first product was a coconut-water-based sports drink optimized for rapid hydration and made with real ingredients. 
You may have seen their brightly colored TetraPaks in your local Whole Foods. 
Next came hydration powder packs, and a sports energy drink, both with that same commitment to low sugar and real ingredients. 
Earlier this year Nooma launched a 4th product: Sports Recovery Drinks.
And no, these aren’t thick, protein-filled, milky-type drinks.
The only way I know to describe them is by calling them healthy sport sodas.
Each can has 15 calories, 2g of sugar, and comes in familiar flavors.
Compared to Kombucha (12g), Poppi the pre-biotic soda (5g), or Olipop (2g - 5g), Nooma wins on flavor, benefits, and of course, having the lowest sugar content.
But, that’s not the only reason I love Nooma.
Nooma’s sport recovery sodas are my solution to high-sugar mocktails.
I also admire that Nooma owns each stage of the workout:
I didn’t ask the Smith Brothers for a discount, but I did ask for a quote from the small-business operators:
“We’re a pair of brothers working to change the way you think about sports drinks. Our mission is to bring you sports drinks made with the absolute best ingredients, taste great, and keep you at 100%.”
Oh! My ranking of the flavors is the following:
  1. Cherry Cola
  2. Coconut Lime
  3. Fruit Punch
To My Boston & New England Friends
I almost jumped on a flight to Boston this weekend to be first in line for the grand opening of Plant Pub.
Why?
Plant Pub’s menu might be the most inclusive yet, and as a sober herbivore I felt it was my duty.
As the founder Pat McAuley told me, “People sometimes forget that there are two sides to a menu, food and beverage!”
In my absence, I decided to share a few thoughts about how monumental Plant Pub’s menu is.
This Boston Pub Just Launched The World’s Most Inclusive Menu
This Boston Pub Just Launched The World’s Most Inclusive Menu
Boston impact entrepreneur Pat McAuley just cut the ribbon on his latest venture, Plant Pub, a 100% plant-based pub concept inviting patrons to eat plants and drink beer.
rickieticklez.medium.com
3 Pieces To Bookmark
I wish I had less ambition.
That sounds like a wildly self-absorbed statement.
The truth is, I didn’t really understand ambition until I recognized myself in the words of Rosie Spinks.
“Think of all the highly driven and ambitious people you know working long after their basic needs are met: Are they ever “done” or satisfied with where they’ve ended up and ready to call it quits on achieving? Of course not. Ambition is an unquenchable thirst.”
If ambition is an unquenchable thirst, what is the trust cost of our ambition?
Adaptation Is Your Most Valuable Skill
Adaptation Is Your Most Valuable Skill
The pandemic and climate crises make working ourselves to the bone in service of our own ambition seem a little silly. Let’s change that.
forge.medium.com
In ZORA, Audarshia Townsend, a Chicago-based journalist, unpacked why the gratuity system deserves to be forever shelved.
The Trouble With Tipping
The Trouble With Tipping
Burdened with a long, racist past for workers and customers, the gratuity system deserves to be forever shelved.
zora.medium.com
A third or more of Americans younger than 45 either don’t have children or expect to have fewer than they might otherwise because they are worried about climate change.
They ask, what kind of harm will my child do to the world?
What kind of harm would a hotter, less stable, and more potentially violent world do to my kid?
Meghan Kallman and Josephine Ferorelli of Conceivable Future have been having these conversations for decades and spoke with Emma Green about their research.
The Millennials Not Having Babies Because of Climate Change
The Millennials Not Having Babies Because of Climate Change
A generation facing an intractable problem debates whether to bring a new generation into the world.
www.theatlantic.com
A Note About Medium
I write to learn.
I share these on Medium because their Partner Program compensates writers based on the reading time of their stories.
For me, that’s usually $30 - $50 a month.
They just sweetened the pot though.
Medium updated their terms so that in addition to earning from content published, creators can refer readers to become Medium members and get half of their membership fee, for as long as they remain a member.
They even gave writers their own sign-up pages, here’s mine: https://rickieticklez.medium.com/membership
Membership also lets you bypass the 3 article per month limit - that’s a lot of learning!
If you’re considering becoming a Medium member, I’d love to have you.
Have A Nice Trip, See You Next Fall
I’m reading Under The Sky We Make: How To Be Human In A Warming World by Kimberly Nicholas and, Oh Baby! is it humbling.
Reading it, I recognize how fucking selfish I am, and I’m only 22% of the way through.
Once I finish this, I’ll be sure to share what I learned.
Now, off to eat or drink something pumpkin-flavored, right?
With gratitude,
Richie
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Richie Crowley
Richie Crowley @RickieTicklez

Publishing original thoughts + ideas only when I have something of quality to say.

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