Having a heavy head and going to work is a scenario that never works out well. Your eyes burn and your neck feels sprained as your body yearns to go back to bed. This feeling might get lowered in intensity as the day passes along, but your energy levels will remain poor throughout the day, which does not bode well for your overall quality of life or career.
Having a good night’s sleep is crucial for every person who wants to succeed and be happy in life because the brain isn’t a perpetually functioning machine. The brain needs to rest and rejuvenate and this happens at night when we sleep. During sleep, the brain sorts out the memories and makes sense of them, while simultaneously adjudging that whether something should be committed to long-term memory or let go of altogether.
A good night’s sleep means that you enter the REM or the Rapid Eye Movement stage of your sleep as this is the stage where the brain replenishes itself and revitalizes the energy reserves for the next day. REM sleep can certainly affect your concentration and motor skills, both of which are vital towards performing better at work and being of greater value to your employer.
People who don’t sleep enough cause an estimated loss of $63 billion to the US economy alone. These losses are the most profound in the areas of lost productivity and decreased effectiveness when it comes to reaching peak performance levels. And it’s not just office workers whose careers are at risk due to sleep deprivation, professional athletes are just as vulnerable when it comes down to the health risks of sleep deprivation.
A recent study revealed that improving the amount of sleep would lead to better response time and help in lowering fatigue levels in professional baseball players.
Considering a number of risks that are associated with sleep deprivation, the quality of life that you lead is certainly highly dependent on how much sleep you are able to score at night without disruptions. To improve your performance and energy levels during the day at work and later on, you need to make sure that you are following these steps to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep:
Make your bedroom’s environment ideal for sleeping:
One of the biggest mistakes that people make is to think that it’s themselves to blame when they can’t get to sleep early in the night, however the environment you are sleeping in plays just as important a role in lulling you to a good night’s slumber.
The ideal bedroom environment for sleep is to have a dimly lit atmosphere while the room is cooled to a temperature between the range of 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure your bed is free of bugs and critters that might be causing interruptions in your sleep and lastly, do not bring in simulating things like smartphones, Televisions or phones into your room as they can cause your brain to stay awake more than it needs to, due to heightened interest. The more extra time that these items take off from the time reserved for sleep, the more your body will feel duped the next morning.
Shun caffeine and nicotine:
What we consume definitely affects us and the same holds true for things like caffeine and nicotine, which can make your insomnia even worse and make it increasingly hard for you to go to sleep, even if it’s way past your usual bedtime.
It’s wise to not have anything like coffee or cigarette or any other thing that might contain these two elements at least 2-3 hours before you intend to sleep, as anything consumed beyond that will definitely interfere with your brain’s alertness levels and make it difficult for it to slow down enough for sleep to occur.
Relaxation & peace of mind are important:
It’s your brain that needs sleep but whenever you have your mind fixated on tensions, stresses and anxiety related topics, your racing thoughts will make it immensely difficult for your mind to get some rest through sleep.
It’s best to get an hour of relaxation before you sleep to allow your body to unwind properly. Activities like meditation, yoga or even some light music will certainly help you calm down and make it easier for you to fall asleep.
Making sure your body is comfortable:
Even if the slightest part of our bodies is uncomfortable, our sleep quality will be far less and the whole night will be marked with interruptions. A bad posture while sleeping is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to this as it will not just affect our sleep, it will cause pain in your pressure joints in the morning as well.
Make sure that your bed and pillow are comfortable for your body to sleep in and the best way to ascertain that is to see how much of your spine is comfortable while sleeping as it bears most of the body’s weight. Not everyone has the same preferences; choose the mattress and pillow that suits you the best.
Time your sleep well:
Whether you get too much or too less of sleep both are bad for your health as your body has a set limit in which it fulfills its needs. Anything above or below that level is not desirable.
A study found that getting less than five or more than ten hours of sleep in the night would adversely affect your job performance than those who get sleep in the optimal range of seven to eight hours a night. Sleeping in the optimal range is important so you need to ensure that you have a certain time scheduled for your sleep in the 24-hour cycle while keeping one to two hours as buffer time.
Even an extra hour of sleep a night could translate into a 16% increase in wages for the year while it can also significantly improve your working memory capacity helping you to perform better on your jobs. You need to make sure that you are living like a yogi more than you like living like a late night party monster if you really want to reap these benefits and lead a life that is healthier, happier and filled with more successes than you could ever imagine.
About The Author:
I am Christine Rudolph, an enthusiastic dreamer, and a workaholic to achieve that. Jack of All sometimes, wants to do everything. I am a blogger, writer, state level badminton player, technology freak and above all a responsible citizen wanting to save the environment even on her own. For all the updates follow me @RudolphBlogger and become friend’s @Facebook“
