Candle burning at both ends

The data is now overwhelming. Eight hours of sleep each night is what humans need for optimal health and performance. Yet most of us don’t get it. What is the fix?

For years, the 40-hour work week was recognized as the sweet spot for workplace productivity and profits, a system, which AlterNet's Sara Robinson po

Woman with a Burning candle in her palm & dripping wax

Photo about Burning the candles at both ends serve as a metaphor for over worked and over stressed. Concept for stress. Image of exhaust, abstract, panic - 2576413

Burning the candle at both ends..but ironically a slow day!🕯🕯

candle burning at both ends tattoo from edna st vincent millay’s poem, first fig

@poetryisnotaluxury on Instagram: “First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—…”

The phrase in English was adapted from a French saying in 1611 also make it clear that a candle, at that time an expensive household necessity, was involved. The original meaning was about money - a couple in which both the husband and wife were spendthrifts was said to be “burning the candle at both ends,” wasting precious money in two different directions at once. The more general sense of “to burn oneself out through excess work or play,” though now the most common usage, was a later…