I just returned from 11 days of international travel, during which I was sleep deprived. It was shocking to experience how ferociously cravings for bad foods spiked. It took me back to my early entrepreneur days when it felt impossible to stop my bad eating habits. When you're sleep deprived, you become an animal and you can do little about it. For the first few days, the cravings were present yet manageable. By day 5, they were getting irritatingly strong and by day 9, they were overwhelming. The science of sleep deprivation and bad decision making is solid. After one night of inadequate sleep (4 to 5 hrs): + PFC drops by 10-20% (self-control) + a hyperactive 25-30% increase to eat addictive foods + devalue future rewards and high risk decisions Lose one night’s sleep and your brain’s CEO (PFC) takes a 12% pay cut while the candy-craving intern gets a 25% raise. In just a few days time of poor sleep, I became a different person. I chose to do this experiment as I wanted to experience the effects of sleep deprivation given that I've been sleeping very well for years now. Sleep deprivation makes you a little insane. Though this all, I couldn't stop thinking about how most (or all?) of our world leaders are chronically sleep deprived. Culture culture wants to demands it. It's honestly concerning.