Sleep Smarter

There isn't one facet of your mental, emotional or physical performance that's not affected by the quality of your sleep. The consequences of sleep deprivation aren't pretty either. Try immune system failure, diabetes, cancer, obesity, depression and memory loss to name just a few. In regards to how sleep affects your productivity, you may think by Sleeping less and working more you can accomplish more. This is a big no-no when you're sleep deprived, you get slower, less creative more stressed and studies show that sleep deprived individuals can take up to 14% longer to complete tasks and make 20% more mistakes when they do. Sleep deprivation reduces the amount of glucose that gets to your brain. This is why you snack on sugary snacks when you're tired - it's your bodies way of trying to get more sugar to power more thought. However, despite this, the quality of your sleep is lower and you quite literally get dumber. Have you ever made a poor decision and woken up next day thinking: " man, what was I thinking?"

Sleep is body's way of maintaining and if required, repairing itself from damages to ensure we perform at our best possible level.

How to improve sleep?

Sleep can be improved by following certain tips and strategies, some of them are mentioned below.

Get more sunlight during the day

Light signals your hypothalamus (your bodies master hormone gland) and all other organs and glands to be alert and wake up. Sunlight exposure (yes, it has to be natural light) triggers your body to produce optimal levels of daytime hormones and regulates your biological clock. Melatonin, the hormone that creates optimum sleep conditions in your body is produced during the day and is heavily affected by exposure to light. Basically by getting more sunlight during the day and limiting light exposure in the evening, you're on your way to a magic sleep formula that really works.

Sleep power tip: Maximize sunlight exposure, particularly between the hours of 6 and 8:30 a.m. if you work in an office get out during the day and go for a walk to get some natural sunlight.

Avoid the screens before bedtime

Now that we understand the importance that light has on our Circadian rhythm make sure to avoid the harsh blue light from the electronic devices like Smartphones and Tablets in the evening. The light will throw off your melatonin secretion and makes it harder to get to sleep.

Sleep power tip: limit device use 90 minutes before sleep, read a book instead. If you have an urgent and important task to complete during the night then turn on blue light filter on your smartphone this will reduce the blue light emitted from the screen. Though I recommend you to read a book and avoid screens.

Get to bed at the right time

You can get amplified sleep quantity by going to sleep at the right time. There is a magic window of time between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m when hormone secretion and recovery is at its optimum. By sleeping during this window you get better quality sleep compared to someone who may get the same number of hours of sleep but who misses this window. After about 10 p.m your body also experience a natural high as melatonin is secreted into your body. Melatonin secretion is fine if you are already asleep but if you are awake the energy that comes from the melatonin will make getting to sleep a lot harder.

Sleep power tip: make sure your asleep during the golden window of opportunity. Set your alarm to wake you up at the top of a sleep cycle. Sleep cycles are your body's natural rise and fall of sleep depth which take about 90 minutes. By waking up at the top of a cycle you wake up feeling refreshed and alert. Wake up at the bottom (about 45 minutes) and you will wake up feeling pretty groggy.

Lose weight and don't find it again

Obesity can often result in lower quality sleep. Being overweight causes severe stress to your internal organs, nervous system and disturb your endorphin system (which produces beneficial hormones like melatonin). Overweight individuals are more sensitive to cortisol (anti-sleep hormone) secretion after eating a meal and this lowers your insulin sensitivity and increases blood pressure and inflammation. Be sure to get a good macronutrient balance of fats, proteins and carbs. Often we consume too many carbs, which releases insulin in the body and that's what stores fat. A higher ratio of fats and proteins enables your pancreas to produce more glycogen and less insulin. Glycogen triggers The breakdown of stored fatty - acids for fuel, that is fat loss.

Sleep power tip: focus on whole foods and avoid processed food. Avoid food especially carbs just before bed. Start your day with a good meal. Not carbs as this will cause an insulin spike.

Calm your inner chatter

Often we hop into bed and then proceed to think about the when, where, who, why, what and how's of life. This inner chatter can keep you awake for a long time and make sleeping much harder. The solution can help you sleep as well as transform your entire life - meditation. It enhances the release of the "feel - good" hormone and endorphins lower stress and inflammation in the body. Meditation can help improve your focus, creativity, memory, imagination, productivity, performance and attention. Meditation literally changes the shape of your brain and increases the size of your Alpha waves when focusing. These are the brain waves where imagination,  visualisation, memory, learning and concentration are heightened.

Sleep power tip: meditation in the morning is often the most influential time to do so. It's when your brain is already near the Alpha state.

Be early to rise

Getting up early is a great way of getting a natural hit of sunlight in the morning, but it's also ideal for setting you up well for the day. Going to sleep early and waking up early helps to sync your body with the earth's natural circadian Rhythm which is more restorative then trying to sleep when the sun is up. Waking up early with a sense of purpose as opposed to sleeping in, is a great way to start the day in a more motivated state. Morning people tend to exhibit character traits like optimism satisfaction and conscientious. Getting started on your goals by 8 A.M gives you an extra sense of optimism.

Sleep power tip: go to bed within 30 minutes of the same time every night. Many people think that can sleep less during the week and "catch up" at the weekend. All this does is throws your schedule out of whack.

Follow these strategies and you are sure to Sleep smarter and sleep better.

If you find value in this article then do share it with your friends and family. To stay updated with the latest updates on Blog subscribe to the email subscription. Comment your views and opinions on this topic in the comment section below. 

Keep sharing; keep caring!

Source: from the book 'Sleep Smarter' by 'shawn Stevenson'.