“True silence is the rest of the mind and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment, and refreshment.” – William Penn
Are you suffering from lack of sleep? How many hours of sleep do you get a night? Some would say they reach 4-5 hours a night and function great the next day, and are incredibly productive. Well, science says something to the contrary. Based on research, someone who regularly sleeps 4-5 hours, not the recommended 7-9 hours, suffers from a lack of productivity and cognitive performance. I know what you are thinking, I do great sleep just 4-5 hours, and I am always at work simultaneously rearing and being productive and successful. Are you productive, though? I have met so many people that even brag that they strive with little sleep. However, someone who regularly sleeps 4-5 hours a night has the mental capacity of someone ten years their senior. Often, the person with their ego lifted high on less sleep tend to stick to busy work, less productive work, and most meetings and emails. Not deep thought provoked creation. On the other hand, if you say, hey, I strive for 7-9 hours of sleep, I go to bed on time and still feel exhausted and am not as productive as I would like to be, relying on coffee to get through the day. Have you looked at your sleep patterns, using devices before you go to bed, too much on your mind, a room that is too hot?
Performance
With lack of sleep comes lack of performance, you may have brain fog, which could cause forgetfulness and impaired judgments almost as if you had been drinking on the job or hungover. When you lack the adequate sleep your body needs you also impact other areas of your life, as High-Performers, we need to exercise and stay healthy in order to function at your peak. And it all starts with enough sleep.
Tools
There are several tools and devices you could purchase that measure how well you sleep; I use the Oura ring tied into my Apple Watch to get some interesting data. The Apple Watch is limited to the data elements you can get while asleep; however, the Oura Ring provides readiness scores and sleep scores, which I love, as it tells me if I should take a break from working and take it easy during the day. I also love some other data elements such as the sleep cycles and how much time you spent in them as well as HRV which can be a telling health score. With the data elements between the Apple Watch and the Oura Ring, I love all the information you can get out of it.
Some other useful tools and techniques I recommend for my clients and even for myself are going to bed every night at the same time and getting up every day at the same time. On the weekends, you occasionally have social engagements and go out, so sleeping later is something that happens, and of course, sleeping in, who doesn’t love that. Of course, that is not an everyday occurrence.
A great visual and things to think about as you go on your journey to restful and deep sleep comes from the Precision Nutrition Blog that would benefit many of you getting a better night’s sleep and focusing on rest as a priority. Check out Precision Nutrition.
Routines
Evening routines are for another post; however, some quick hits I discuss here. Just bookending your days can make a huge difference in your health and productivity. Before going to bed, my basic evening routine is having a cup of tea, usually Yogi Bedtime Tea, some journaling on wins during the day, and some light reading before bed. Get’s me to unwind and allows me to disconnect from devices until the next day, of course, after my morning routine Morning Routine. My evening journaling is fairly quick, mainly just how my day went, how I could have done even better and some milestones for the day. This allows me to actually sleep soundly since anything and everything is now on paper and I no longer think about it.
“Sleep’s what we need. It produces an emptiness in us into which sooner or later energies flow.” – John Cage
Allow for some downtime, stop checking email and let your eyes rest from devices, perhaps even wear blue light blocking glasses in the evening. We all like to unwind with a book or watch TV, especially the news these days with all going on with COVID and the election and now what has recently happened on Capitol Hill. Wearing Blue Light blocking glasses could help stabilize and increase melatonin.
Conclusion
By getting ample sleep, your mind and body can rest to provide a more productive day. All while giving you higher energy levels and increased deep work and focused work time.
References
All comments welcome. Let me know what you think or would like to get more information.