Sleep
“I don’t have enough time to sleep more.”
We hear it all the time don’t we? We have work to do, people to take care of, and entertainment to engage in. But what if that wasn’t the truth? What if instead, you didn’t have enough time NOT to sleep?
No matter the research study, researchers have found humans perform better when they sleep a minimum of 7-8 hours per night. Athletes and people who demand the most out of their body sleep 8-9 hours a night minimum. Sleep is when our body recovers and how we revitalize ourselves to do our best work.
If you don’t sleep enough, you’ll experience more mood swings, be tired and rely too heavily on stimulants in order to be at a normal level of energy.
Your weight loss or muscle gain will happen much more slowly. You won’t have nearly the energy or ability to get things done. You’ll get more agitated and angry. You won’t be able to have the same focus or attention to your loved ones. People are meant to sleep!
One of my favorite mantras is “I don’t have time NOT to sleep.”
While it’s true that around 1% of the population needs only 4-6 hours of sleep to function optimally, the other 99% of us need at least 7 hours a night, while really we need 8 hours. While there is a myth in society that high achievers sleep less to achieve more, it is a consistent finding among people who make more, achieve more, and are healthier, that they sleep a solid 8-8.5 hours a night on average. If you want to get more done, be happier, and be your best self, sleep more!
Yes, you now have permission to sleep, it’s not being lazy, it’s the pathway to greater productivity!
Tips to better sleep:
1. Do not look at electronics for up to 30-60 min minimum before bed. If you are looking at blue screens (and especially social media), you are priming your brain to believe it’s daytime when it’s really nighttime, so you’ll find it harder to sleep. So once the sun starts going down, either stop with the screens or wear blue light blockers.
2. Stop consuming caffeine after 2 pm. The later in the day you have caffeine, the more difficult it is for you to sleep well. Even if you have the experience of being able to sleep right after drinking coffee, your sleep will not be as deep, thereby leaving you with less energy.
3. Get your room dark. Unless you wake up before the sun rises, it’s very important to have the blinds in your room covered so sunlight doesn’t disturb you in the morning. When you sleep in the dark, you stay in what’s called REM sleep more easily, the most recovery enriched time of sleep. Blackout curtains are great for the bedroom, additionally, you can use an eye mask to cover your eyes.
4. Read something calming before bed. If you like to read fiction or biographies, read these as they will help your mind calm down. Avoid highly stimulating nonfiction reading.
5. If there is a lot of sounds where you live or you sleep next to a partner, use earplugs so you aren’t disturbed by their movements or the noises around where you live.
6. Use night sounds. Humans historically have had lots of noises around us as we sleep. One way to give yourself a little background noise is to use a sleep app like Calm or Sleep Cycle which produces sounds from a forest, beach, thunderstorm, and so on, you can choose.
By choosing sounds which are pleasing to the ear, it can bring you more easily to sleep.
Sleep Exercise
This week, (and every week after), give yourself the 8 hour test. Get yourself at least one more hour of sleep per day than you normally have. If you have at least 6 hours of sleep normally, try doing 7 hours. If you want the most energy and good feeling possible, then go all the way to 8 hours. When you’re at 8 hours, you’ll feel much better. Much much better. Trust me and experience it.
Assignment
Under the conclusion section, in no specific order, along with your conclusion to this weeks teaching, please speak to:
What is your relationship with sleep and do you value sleep?
Have you noticed the difference in your quality of life when you get adequate sleep?
Under the implementation section, in no specific order to what you wish to speak to, please also speak to:
What actions will you take to improve your sleep quality and quantity this week?