- Dad Strength
- Posts
- Sleep science
Sleep science
Plus What is school?
Geoff Girvitz
September 11, 2025
Today on Dad Strength
Sleep science
What is school?
The agility map is not the territory
A book, a quote, a dad joke
I’ve been working on a book for first-time dads. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I’ll keep you posted. I’ll also have a piece out in the Globe and Mail next week (online Sunday, print Monday), so keep an eye out. I’ll share some bonus stories in next week’s newsletter. Thanks, as ever, for reading. And hit reply if you want to check out our weekly calls. They’re pretty terrific.
Sleep science
At no point will you look back at a stretch of awful sleep and think, “Man, I was really at my best during that period.” You might have done your best. But that’s a different story.
Most of the dads I see really going through it are new dads. And the struggle is real. It’s funny to think that, a few years down the road, this will all feel like a distant – and sweet – memory punctuated by a handful of emergencies and jump scares. But if you’re in the thick of it… hoo boy. It’s tough to imagine that sleep will change your emotional experience of so many things.
The next group I see – and the one I’m mostly writing this for – are the dads who stay up late as a way to carve out some quiet time for themselves. That time is important and I don’t want to pretend otherwise. But the later it gets, the harder it is to make good decisions like… Oh I don’t know, going to sleep when you feel very tired.
There are two crutches for diminished sleep as a habit: coffee/energy drinks and identity. The first part is self-explanatory. The second one is for the guys out there who say, “I never get enough sleep but I string it together because…” You can fill in the blank there. Or maybe, “I’m always cranky because that’s just my lovable curmudgeonly nature.” Ok maybe. But sleep debt always shows up on the balance sheet. You can’t out-tough a biological imperative.
The science is pretty straightforward: a couple of short nights are recoverable. Add an extra hour or two the next few days, and mood, focus, and performance bounce back. It’s like putting a small charge on your credit card and then paying it back quickly.
The real problem is chronic debt. Months of compromised sleep rack up major interest points. You’ll see this via increased blood pressure, poorer eating decisions, and overall metabolic and cardiac health. Not to mention emotional reactivity. That’s really the big one in any family dynamic. Chronically angry people can turn high blood pressure into a contagious disease.
The solution? I wish I had a one-stepper for you. One weird old trick – that kind of thing. The next best thing I’ve found is to begin building a wind-down routine. Ideally, when you notice feeling tired, you just go to bed. It’s boringly simple but the devil’s in the details. To make this work, you have to be washed up, teeth brushed, and dressed for unconsciousness. But things may begin with really easy steps, like dimming the lights, taking a supplement, or even instituting food rule, e.g. fermented foods only after 9 PM (holy cow — I did have one weird old trick!)
What is school?
On our most recent call, I asked our dads how they think about school for their kids. What’s its purpose? How seriously do they need to take academics? How do they talk about the value and practice of attendance, investment, and performance?
What will post-secondary education look like in another decade? Your guess is as good as mine. And what kinds of jobs will most reliably be in demand? That’s a more practical question.
Even now, it’s entirely possible that a master’s degree carries less practical value than being a master tradesman. But we also have some biases about what smart kids and high performers do. I’m from a generation where shop class was looked down on by many. In a nation that desperately needs more skilled trades, that bias is haunting us.
There are, of course, a zillion other jobs out there. And I imagine that if my kid has enough clarity on what kind of work he wants to do – and he thinks he can perform in the top 1-5% – that’s probably a good path. But, when in doubt, there’s a logic to focusing on jobs that must get done and can’t be automated. Not always as a last stop, but as a way to maintain the option to choose new paths in later life.
The agility map is not the territory
We hosted a certification course at Bang last weekend and I popped by to find everyone repping out patterns on the agility ladder. It got me thinking…
If you’re not familiar with agility ladders, here’s a pretty good demo. Katy should be eyes-up but she’s otherwise moving really nicely. It actually took me a while to find a video I was happy with because so many people move flatly through these things. Power is about intention!
Most of the value of the agility ladder is in stretching your brain to learn patterns and then refining your mechanics to match. That part is great. Five stars! However, the agility ladder is also wildly overused – especially in youth training circles. That’s because people begin to treat it like a magic spell. Rather than getting good enough with the ladder and then bridging the pattern into on-the-field (or on-the-wherever) technical drills, skills, coaches and parents insist on perfecting agility ladder work. Or maybe making it more complex than it needs to be or treating it like a competitive sport unto itself. But the map is not the territory. Get good enough and move on.
Get the Dad Strength Community Edition
Support Dad Strength for only $5/month AND get periodic bonus resources, like Power Statements for Parents.
Engaged dads benefit from support and community. Curious about our Tuesday calls? Start here.
What I’m listening to/watching:
Technofeudalism by Yanis Varoufakis
Is Jonathan Haidt right about smartphones? Personally, I think he’s right for the wrong reasons.
A quote
“When economists insist that they too are scientists because they use mathematics, they are no different from astrologists protesting that they are just as scientific as astronomers because they also use computers and complicated charts.”
A dad (math) joke
What kind of jeans does Super Mario wear?
Denim denim denim
Take care of yourself, man!
GG
Geoff Girvitz
Father, founder, physical culturist
dadstrength.com