A part of our human nature, we’re motivated to be successful. Some days are full of meetings, planning, and reporting which can exhaust your brain. If your thoughts are overcrowding, this will leave you relentless and sleepless at night. Since sleep can refresh your mind from a busy day, having a reliable sleep calculator can help you plan out your bedtime routine.

Since sleep is often ignored, having good sleep hygiene can bring a significant effect on the improvement of your recovery and performance. During deep sleep or slow-wave sleep, the human growth hormone (HGH) is released, which is essential for muscle and tissue regeneration, and injury prevention. During the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, this takes place in a lighter sleep phase where memory consolidation including muscle memory takes place.

How Sleep Affects Productivity and Performance

If we strive hard to achieve our peak performance and eager to take our game to the next level, you must know that sleep is your best friend.

Brain processing and memory consolidation are the most appealing advantage of having a good night’s sleep. It turns out that some parts of our brain never really fall asleep. What happens is that sleep helps make significant things and prepares us for better results and productivity.

After a class or exercise, sleeping can actually affect your skill growth. If you won’t take a rest, you won’t learn. Sleeping well the following nights don’t count. Having seven to eight hours of sleep can enable the brain to process and absorb information.

Usually, we wonder how long is a sleep cycle and we undergo 90-to-120 minutes of sleep cycles every night. Deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) are two primary kinds of sleep within these cycles. Firstly, deep sleep emerges. The brain consolidates memories during this phase and reconstructs energy. As the night continues, the final cycles dominated by REM. Probably you’ve heard most of the dreams happening during REM.

Strengthening your understanding of your needs to have both kinds of sleep. During phase one, it is where profound sleep takes place. Your brain stores all the information and practices that you’ve learned on that day. The integration or phase two is where the current knowledge is combined with facts and lessons. This occurs during REM.

Factors to Consider in Getting Quality Sleep

To have healthy sleep, it involves choosing the right decisions in prioritizing sleep. Here are three factors to achieve and maintain quality sleep:

Quantity

For optimum wellness and performance, people need at least 7 hours of nightly sleep. Some individuals need more sleep in order to feel comfortable. Consider sleeping for 7 to 9 hours per night. Set up a consistent bedtime schedule to get a complete sleep every night.

Quality

Getting a good night’s sleep can greatly affect your performance the next day. However, aiming to get at least 7 hours per night is not enough; you must also take into account that it should in quality. To achieve this, avoid any evening sleep disruptors a few hours before bedtime – including tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. Before taking any sleep medication, consult your doctor first.

Regularity

Sleeping at the same moment every time is essential. One of the important components of everyday life is having a healthy sleep. Having a dark sleep atmosphere can be easier for you to sleep at night. Also, this works best when you have a consistent sleep-wake-cycle. Even if you’re sleepy, wake up every morning at the same moment and go to sleep when you’re sleepy.

Here are a few techniques to have a better sleep

Take a warm bath before bed

Not only it’s only calming to take a warm bath before bedtime, but it also increases your body temperature. As your temperature drops, it will be much easier to doze off. This reduced in body temperature can make you fall asleep easier – and staying asleep.

Create a soothing sleep environment

A cool bedroom makes the ideal sleeping temperature to make you doze off faster. To avoid outdoor lights, put down your block out shades. Turn on your humidifier and put someessential oils for sleep. You can use earplugs if you are disturbed by uncontrollable external noise. Having a comfortable sleeping atmosphere can help you get restorative and rejuvenating sleep.

Write That Task Down

Uncompleted tasks can leave you wide awake at night. To get those tasks out of your mind, create a to-do list. If it’s urgent, do it right away. If it’s not, then plan it for tomorrow. Prioritizing your tasks can allow you to sleep in peace. Therefore, you need to write your tasks down.

If you have an important task to do in the morning, leave a piece of note where you can’t miss it like in your fridge. Hence, you’ll be at ease when you know where you’ve placed it.

Avoid eating large meals before bed

Eating the heaviest meal during dinner or a few hours before bedtime can put to risk of having a fragmented sleep at night. Since your body needs to digest it after eating, your body will be overworked which can delay your bedtime. More entrepreneurs are guilty about this because they tend to skip their meals during day time. To prevent this, you must have a full protein-rich breakfast to start your day.

Also, if you’re consuming sugary snacks for midnight, this can lead to sugar rush that can wake you up in the middle of your sleep cycle. This can make it difficult for you to go back to sleep.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol

Since it can stay on your system for 10 hours, caffeine is can keep your body on alert mode and energized. Initially, alcohol can make you feel drowsy, however, it actually can increase the chances that you’ll wake up in the middle of the night.

Moreover, if you consumed a cup of caffeine in the afternoon, this will more likely to hinder you from getting a good night’s sleep. In addition, caffeine can reduce the production of serotonin – a chemical that makes your brain feel good and happy. Hence, drinking excessive caffeine within the day can bring anxiety, stress, insomnia and disrupted the sleep cycle.

Establish a bedtime ritual

Relaxing your body and mind requires time. Do soothing activities for at least one hour before going to bed. Start your bedtime ritual with a warm bath. Keep away things that can stimulate your mind. While on your latex mattress, read a classic book to help you fall asleep faster. Establishing this kind of ritual enables your mind that it’s already time to sleep. With this, your body is taking this cue and starting to prepare yourself for bedtime.

Keep your room only for sleeping

Avoid stimulating activities such as using your laptop or munching on your favorite snacks in your bedroom. In this way, sleep is the only thing that you’ll do in your room. Also, make sure the room is dark when you go to sleep because your body may wake you up.

Keep in Mind

Remember, these problems can impact your overall performance during the day. There are range of sleep techniques that you can apply so you can get a good night’s sleep and achieve your best performance. If you think that you can’t handle your sleep problems on your own, consult your doctor about it. You may have a sleep disorder associated with sleep that needs to be treated.