December 09, 2014

#045: The Second Different View On Time Management – The Importance of Sleep

5 minutes

Get better sleep tips and ideas at Greatist.com

The purpose of this podcast is for you to understand what issues might be present in your life and then you should be able to have takeaways to apply in your life and live a life with more purpose. So, what are we talking about today to help you achieve this? Sleep.

This topic is so important, that I am dedicating a podcast episode to it.

Sleep may be more important than you previously thought. I am seeing an increase on the belief that more sleep is a good thing, but for every person who thinks correctly about their need for sleep, there are five other people who brag that they can get by just fine with five hours of sleep or less. The mentality that less sleep allows for more time during the day is a false belief, because the energy that comes from having the correct amount of sleep for your body is used to be more effective in the hours of the day that you already have. It isn’t about creating more hours, it is more about increasing productivity within the hours that you already have.

There are countless studies out there stating the importance of sleep and how it can actually help you, and I am just going to reference one here.

The Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests there are six reasons to get enough sleep: [quote]

Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.

Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.

Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.

Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.

Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.

Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.

If this isn’t proof enough that sleep is beneficial to your life, then take the time to read a few more of the pro-sleep studies available to read that go in more depth on sleep cycles, how much sleep people actually need, and the importance of understanding REM sleep.

Here are three ways to find better sleep:

1. Wind down mentally without electronics.

2. Write down what is on your mind and get it out.

3. Don’t do too much close to bedtime.

If you don’t take my word for it or you don’t want to listen to Harvard’s research due to the belief that you keep too hectic of a schedule to get more sleep, then you may need to make the decision yourself to sleep more in order to be more productive, energetic, and effective. Don’t wait until exhaustion forces you to get more sleep.

See the benefits and begin getting better sleep, today.

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By Adam Kirk Smith