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Famous by this time through repeated media focus and interviews,commercials and YouTube videos,subject and object of bloggings ,fanarts and discussions in fora Kim Hyun Joong , the 24 year old South Korean singer -actor is equally known for his workcholic ways and sleeplessness.
Do workcholism and sleeplessness go together ? It seemed so in his case . And perhaps for numerous individuals as well . Some type of work encourage and foster sleeplessness such as being in the entertainment industry, emergency work in medical field , disaster management , regular and crisis broadcasting,international stock market, transportation, airport operations,mass communication,round the clock manufacturing and services among others . All of these can be traced to globalization that impacted intense trading,leaps and bounds changes in technology,unprecedented population movement and just plain unlimited economic growth.
Recently, attention on sleeping bodies in society has gained a degree of respectability as a serious study.It has been a subject for many fields such as in the social and behavioral sciences,biological sciences, literature, arts ,and applied areas such as architecture,urban planning, ergonomics ,even interior designing . Before our houses have bedrooms dedicated to sleeping (and other activities), how did we sleep ? Or how many hours did we need for sleeping? We even have attires specifically for sleeping as well as numerous paraphernalia designed to induce sleeping. Our goodnight greetings send us off to dreamland, another sphere of existence .
Our sleeping habits have been formed out of ,reinforced by working habits and reflected changing economic systems . Biologists, however, insist that they are requirements for species to live, thrive and reproduce the next generations. We now have billions in human population. Sleeping then must be something good to do.
So what do we make out of Kim Hyun Joong who sleeps for a few hours a day claim he has simply so many things to accomplish? He has many plans lined as far as his career is concerned that even his marrying and starting a family he said had now been pushed back several years. He lives in a city such as Seoul,a global city that do not sleep . He has counterparts in other global cities elsewhere. Are they individuals who are actually leading abnormal lives or are they becoming the lifestyle of the urban men and women lured into the active, dynamic lives of our global society ?
There is an interesting novel mentioned in a study made by Steinberg titled Beggars in trilogy.The gist of this novel lies in the creation of genetically engineered sleepless individuals in Spain.These individuals are supposed to be the productive,exceptional ones .They will not only live but stay on top of others who are sleeping the regular ways who are then relegated to becoming beggars. Though the novel is definitely fiction, it cuts through the realm of wishful thinking in this age of almost limitless possibilities .
Could this be the future characteristics of people who wish to reach the top? In 2005,BBC News Online posted an article that said there is a gene for sleeping. Though this was based on their studies on fruit flies (fruit flies supposedly have similarities with humans)that revealed some can get by with only 3 or 4 hours a day. But they died early. Know why ? Because potassium flow is cut off from the cells . But just think if there was a gene that can be turned off and on like light switches,what could be the ramifications?
Perhaps the kim Hyun Joongs are already depicting the traits of highly focused , competition driven and success oriented individuals ? Sheer willpower of like minded individuals , goaded by the impact of globalization might not even need engineering genetics . They are equally assisted by power drinks,power naps ,vitamins and stimulants of all kinds promising alertness and mental prowess.
If indeed it can be proven that sleeping less makes one more productive, and we have been more awake now than ever before , the world would have to change its many habits .Or have it already? The days of fretting over sleeplessness may be over. Welcome sleeplessness! At long last insomnia will recieve the respectability it has long deserved .
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