Everything from productivity to life fulfillment is improved with sleep, so why do we not prioritize sleep more?
Sleep is the foundation to peak performance, and a life lived with clarity, energy and enthusiasm. My aim with this post is to get you thinking about improving your sleep to move forward in all areas of your life. Your inner Superman needs sleep!
“Sleep is not a disposable luxury—it’s a non-negotiable biological necessity.”
– Matthew Walker, PhD, sleep scientist
You may have heard that historically most heart attacks occur on Monday mornings. Did you also know that when you lose an hour of sleep in spring, there’s a 24% increase in heart attacks the following day? And on the flip side, when you get that extra hour of sleep during autumn, there is a 21% reduction in heart attacks the following day. This fact blows me away! You can check it out here. How can a one-hour difference in sleep patterns have such a catastrophic impact?! This research certainly throws a different light on the saying “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”!
Listen to the podcast episode here:
Why is sleep so important?
Getting a good amount of high-quality sleep allows your mind and body to heal and helps with memory and learning. Creativity is also improved through deep sleep, which enables us to develop new solutions to problems. Have you heard the saying, “Why don’t you sleep on it?” when you’re trying to come up with a solution to a problem? Sleep allows the subconscious mind to kick in and solve the issues our conscious mind is struggling with.
Sleep also helps us to process painful experiences and events. We may think it is time healing the wounds of grief and suffering, whereas it’s actually sleep that allows the brain to overcome difficult events and memories.
I recently listened to a fascinating podcast interview (https://www.richroll.com/ ) of the sleep scientist, Matthew Walker, on the importance of sleep on the human race, and it inspired me to create this (LINK) podcast on why your inner Superman needs sleep.
When you dive into the adverse effects of poor quality sleep, they are pretty mind-blowing. If you are a man who sleeps five-six hours a night, you are said to have testosterone levels matching a man ten years your senior. Try telling your wife that.
But it’s not just the bedroom that’s affected by your sleep patterns; sleep deprivation has a significant impact on your mind and body, negatively affecting your health, mood and immune system. We have these anti-cancer fighting immune cells, and research has shown that when you don’t get enough good quality, deep sleep, the anti-cancer immune cells switch off or become less efficient. The cardiovascular system is also affected because it allows your system to reboot during deep sleep, lowering your heart rate and blood pressure.
As a parent, I recognise when I lack good sleep as I become stressed or upset with my kids, I have a short fuse and anger easily. If you notice you’re responding without the calm and poise you’d like, or you feel that your ability to perform in any area of your life is under-par, I strongly suggest you start looking at the quality of your sleep.
Have you noticed you’re reaching for the coffee or chocolate biscuits more lately? This is also a sign that you may be lacking decent sleep as your hormones are affected. We might think that sleep only affects our ability to perform at work, but science shows that it affects us on a deeper level and for a longer timeframe than we often imagine.
I always knew sleep was important as a general pillar of overall health, but I didn’t quite realise just how important until a couple of things happened. Firstly, I became a father, and for those dads and mums out there, you’ll understand just how important sleep is in your life and how much your mood and wellbeing are affected by your sleep patterns.
The other thing that happened is that I listened to the Matthew Walker interview I mentioned earlier. (Be warned, it’s 3 hours long, but it’s worth every second!). Matthew has spent his career investigating sleep and answering the following questions, Why do we sleep? What exactly happens when we sleep, and why is it so important? What are the implications of sleep deprivation? And what can we do to improve our sleep hygiene?
What I now realise is that sleep is the foundation that everything else is built on.
My wife and I are always telling our five-year-old daughter about making sure she gets enough sleep to do well at school, but it’s essential for all of us, whatever age we are. Without decent sleep, we won’t learn and retain information as efficiently.
If you look at the business leaders and CEOS of this world who are truly successful, you’ll find that most of them understand the importance of good quality sleep because it enables them to perform to the peak of their capabilities. Greg McKeown covers this well in his book Essentialism, where he points out that top achievers see sleep as necessary for high-level contribution. So, if you’re looking at company KPIs, then it’s about time sleep was added to the spreadsheet!
Think about it: if you’re not getting quality sleep, how will you perform at your best? How are you going to unleash your inner Superman? If showing up as your best self with more energy and enthusiasm in all areas of your life is important to you, then I ask you, are you ready to start prioritising sleep?
What I want you to do is to ask yourself the following questions,
How do I feel when I wake up?
How refreshed do I feel on waking?
Do I feel better after sleep? And if not, then ask yourself if you are getting enough sleep.
Tracking your sleep is also very useful to give you an idea of how well you’re sleeping. Sleep apps can be great for this. I use one called Sleep Cycle, where you can track when you go to bed and when you wake up. But you can also just use a pen and paper and take notes for a week.
Record things like,
When you turned the lights out.
What time you went to sleep.
And the time that you wake up.
Sleep tracking will start to give you an idea of how much sleep you are getting and with what regularity. Regularity is king when it comes to waking up feeling refreshed, so aim for the same bedtime and waking time each day.
We might think that we can out-hack Mother Nature, but we need restorative sleep to make sure that our biological system is functioning correctly, so if you are feeling sluggish, stressed, or less than 100%, I encourage you to look at the foundational element of good quality sleep in your life.