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One of the best life changes I’ve had this year is fixing my sleep. I now routinely sleep around 7 hours a night and don’t use an alarm clock. I allow my body to naturally wake up when it is ready. And because I sleep at about the same time each evening (between 11pm and 12 am), I never worry about being late for work since after 7 hours or so, my body just wakes up.
What motivated me to “fix” my sleep and just how important is it? A book called “Why We Sleep” will make you realise just how crazy we are to be so blasé about our sleep. The dangers of not sleeping enough are wide-ranging and mind-boggling. Here’s an excerpt from a book on the topic:
“Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer. Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or not you will develop Alzheimer’s disease. Inadequate sleep—even moderate reductions for just one week—disrupts blood sugar levels so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic. Short sleeping increases the likelihood of your coronary arteries becoming blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure. Fitting Charlotte Brontë’s prophetic wisdom that “a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow,” sleep disruption further contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.” – Matthew Walker (Why We Sleep)
Thankfully, fixing the basics is quite simple. Here are a few tips from the book that you can try out, but be sure to read the full book if you wish to learn more. It was a fantastic read!
- Sleep/wake up at roughly the same time each evening/morning. Sleeping in on weekends doesn’t quite make up for sleep shortages in the week by the way.
- Exercise helps but not close to bedtime (aim to exercise > 2-3 hrs before sleep.)
- Avoid caffeine in the afternoon (coffee effects can last as long as 8 hrs.)
- Avoid alcohol before bed.
- Don’t eat too much before sleep (heavy digestion can interfere with sleep.)
- Dont nap after 3pm (makes it harder to fall asleep at night.)
- Avoid laptops, smartphones, and other bright displays when winding down for sleep