In conjunction with this occasion, the National Sleep Foundation released the results of a poll last week showing that most women don't get sufficient shut-eye and suffer negative consequences as a result. A random telephone survey of 1,003 women aged 18 to 64 found that 84% experienced insomnia more than one night a week. And 40% reported snoring, sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome.

We check our e-mail from our cellphones, call Bhutan while driving to Bakersfield and apply for life insurance online while watching TV, talking on the phone or maybe even having sex. (The secret of highly effective people? Do all three at once!) There is no longer any excuse for doing one thing at a time, let alone indulging in a few moments of idleness. Even meditation has been reformatted into active, even aggressive, magical thinking. Instead of focusing our thoughts inward, we're told by the latest bestseller "The Secret" that we should be "manifesting" (seeking what we want) through "visualization." We close our eyes not to shut the world out but to invite more stimulus in.

No wonder we can't sleep. Sleep equals doing nothing, and doing nothing is such a low priority that we are way out of practice. Sure, we want slumber, need it, even crave it. But because we can't work, buy things or communicate while we do it, it has very little relevance to our lives.

And because the very essence of sleep runs counter to the nonstop consumption that's become the governing principle of our lives, we see it as a sign of weakness, even diminished social status. Those who have time for adequate sleep are assumed to be professionally unambitious, neglectful of their families or not affluent enough to maximize their participation in our around-the-clock culture. In other words, they're the losers. Those of us who have bags under our eyes and throw tantrums in crowded Trader Joe's parking lots? We're the American success stories. Just don't get too close to us on the freeway. We really shouldn't be driving.

Sleep, it seems, not only eludes us, it's taboo. Meanwhile, those other elusive activities, like healthy eating, exercise, seeing friends and having sex? They have become prosaic to the point of disposability. I guess that means that sleep is the new sex. Or sleep is the new exercise. Or something.

At any rate, we had only 23 hours to work with yesterday. I hope no one wasted it exercising.