Sleep Deprivation: The Enemy of Productivity
You do it, I do it, we allll do it. Way too often. Sleep is something we’re quite literally well, sleeping on as a society in the modern world, and it’s causing us all an array of preventative health issues. Boo to that. Isn’t it time we started prioritizing our health in the most simplest way possible? What do your sleep patterns look like on average, and why the heck are you all staying up so late?!?! Today, I want to explore how sleep deprivation affects health and productivity. The Importance of Sleep to Our Health Hey! My name is Shelby and I’m a sleepaholic. I’ve never truly embraced this side of me until becoming a full grown adult woman, but I’m living in that reality right meow and freaking loving it. As far back as I remember though, I was always addicted to sleep, so much so that I was late to school and work countless times throughout the years because bed was just so much better than dealing with my social anxiety. I used to think it was a problem, in that I would feel bad anytime I wanted to sleep more instead of going out, or staying in with friends, or being a social butterfly in the classroom or workforce. I actually never realized that the lack of it had such a detrimental effect on my overall health and I sure didn’t know that it was so important to put first. Today though, I am a much more health-focused individual that wants only to think about the long game. Longevity is all I have in sight for my family and I, and anything I can do to extend this beautiful life is pushed far up on that list. Superfoods, supplements, and sleep are where its at, my friends. …Hmm. I’m feeling an upcoming superfoods and supplements post for sure! <3 But for now, let’s get back to the main topic. Actually how important is sleep to our health and why is it that we should be spending more of our lives looking at the inside of our eyelids? Related: Developing Routines & What is Sleep Hygiene Did you know?? Sleep deprivation isn’t only caused by the lack of enough sleep, but ALSO by stress, poor eating habits, and depression. And you know what else? Sleep needs to be at the times its most needed. Your body will let you know! So, stop avoiding those feelings and embrace them, your overall self will be happy you did! Here are *just a few* of the symptoms you may have experienced with sleep deprivation. Drowsiness Inability to concentrate Impaired memory Reduced physical strength Diminished ability to fight off infections Which can lead into more issues down the road such as stroke or severe mood swings, EVEN hallucinations…and ain’t nobody got time for that. (Check out this article by Hopkins Medicine to learn a little more about the causes and effects if you’re interested!) It’s truly amazing to me how many of us go about our daily lives not even knowing that this is an actual problem and how sleep deprivation affects health. Experiencing “microsleeps” or just being angry at the world because we got up on the wrong side of the bed. Having enough shuteye each evening can seriously boost not only your mental and physical well-being, but also ensure that your productivity stays at level GO all day, err day. (Especially needed for us entrepreneurs out here). Now I understand why it was (and IS) so freaking hard to roll my blah feeling body out of the bed each morning when the alarm hits at 4:30am. Everyone has different chronotypes and although my Oura Ring is tracking me as an early morning bird, TRUST that I am, in fact, NOT. Lately, I’ve been listening to others talk about how they get 4-5, *maybe* 6 hours of sleep and they’re “good to go.” PEOPLE. That is NOT okay. (Sure, this is just the opinion of one lone crazy woman on the internet telling you so, but hey, she speaks the truth…backed by other information on the interweb, of course). Why instead of building our sleep cycles around our jobs and daily activities, can we not build our daily activities and jobs around our sleep cycles? Is it really that hard?? Sleep Deprivation Affects Brought to By Your Favorite Streaming Service Most people will say yes, 100% yes. It’s the modern world, my friends, which means that going hard or going home fully applies to many situations, including on the job site or in the corporate world. Although it’s slowed down some over the last few decades and Covid has given us a solid chance to prove ourselves from home, we’ve still got a long way to go in providing the ample sleeping hours that our bodies and minds truly demand. When you think about it, it’s not really fair that we’re working at say 50-70% almost every day, simply because of our lack of desired sleeping hours. And hell, even when those hours are handy and available, we’d rather reach for the remote and sink ourselves into the latest season of the Bachelor or Yellowstone. Then, of course, the following day consists of becoming annoyed easily, feeling groggy, or reaching for an energy drink of your choice. And for some reason, we can’t trace it back to just staying up later than we should have for something that doesn’t actually bring us that much joy. I think it’s time we started prioritizing sleep more frequently and stopped staring at screens before bed. Challenge yourself and your loved ones to do the same if you want! Drop a comment letting your friends of HB know how the challenge is going after a day, a week, or even a month if you’re game. I suggest at least an hour before bedtime, shutting the screens down and turning on some dim lights to get yourself into the
Developing Routines & What is Sleep Hygiene
Routines are not for everyone. But I’m here today to argue that they probably should be. Creating routines that work well for you each day will help to stay on track and aligned with the people you connect with most often. That could be your significant other, your kids, your boss or your co-workers. Whatever the case, we’re going to dive in more about why routines are a healthy way to make things happen! Let’s take a look a developing routines and what is sleep hygiene. Why, Why, Why? Discovering Your Why Let’s first talk about our “why.” Discovering your “why” can come in many different shapes. You may have several “whys” in your life, but right now let’s just turn our focus to your “why” when it comes to developing routines. So, why did I decide to start implementing a morning and evening routine into my schedule? It’s mainly because I lack discipline when it comes to consistently doing something each day. Sure, I’ll make time for less important things, but so often we all put self-care on the back-burner. Routines in the AM and PM help us to become more stable in our day overall. They give us structure, a beginning and end time, and allow us the time necessary to get ready for our day, but to wind down from it as well. It is likely that you’ll have some trouble at first trying to get the best routine under way, but eventually, it will just make sense. Become second nature even. The best part about it all though is figuring out what works right for you. Then all you have to do is simply stick to it. Get Outta Bed Girl Are you a morning person? I never used to be. I hated early mornings and often went to bed at this time rather than getting up. Then I met someone that had the completely opposite schedule of mine. It made me realize that if I wanted to spend any time with my person that I better start doing some adjusting! It was difficult at first. I’d have trouble going to sleep so early and getting up before it was light out. I thought about napping a hundred times throughout the day and staying up late to binge watch my favorite shows. But then something just clicked. It was like a new world had shown itself to me in the darkness of the morning. There was a certain peace I hadn’t noticed before that was in the silence of the pre-dawn hours. No birds chirping, no incoming notifications, no distractions from lawn mowers or kids coming off the school bus. Just silence. I started loving it. Morning Routine…My Way My morning routine these days follows a pretty similar path after waking up. However, I’m not one of those “jump out of bed immediately when the alarm goes off” kind of gals. (I’m looking at you Mel Robbins with your 5 Second Rule!) There is no way, no how, I’m leaving the comfy, warm but cool at the same time, good-smelling sheets that I’m wrapped up in with my dogs cuddling on both sides. I soak that in. For like, a solid 3-5 minutes…then I get myself into Go mode. Once I’m out of bed, I’m pretty groggy until I get my eyeballs in. (That’s why I call my contacts). So I’ll wear my glasses to make sure I don’t add some new bruises while making my way to the bathroom. I wash my face with my favorite face wash, splash some cool water on, then wipe my face and neck down with a cold rag. I really enjoy turning on a meditation or two, (I have a really great lightbulb that is also a speaker! So once I turn my lights on to set the chill mode, this plays through it). I’ll sit down and do some stretching after, then open up my journals to keep up with my gratitude and affirmations. After that, I like to brew some green tea, and while the water boils I will throw a load of dishes and laundry in, to save time later on when I’m not so eager to do so. I recommend a light breakfast before returning to your zen space, (this is where I veg out for 10 minutes before getting into work). The Challenge of Prioritizing Your Daily Routine Prioritizing your daily routine above all else is challenging. Especially when you’re either always on the go or have a packed full schedule. I try not to let anxiety get to me when I don’t get everything finished at the end of the day. When I’m journaling in the morning, I’ll write down 3 sets of 3 goals I want to accomplish that day. Here’s what they looked like for today: Self Meditate once Stretch once Run 1/2 mile outside with dogs Home Vacuum Do laundry Do dishes Work Create weekly content that’s due (videos/post) Reach 2900 listings Crosslist 5 listings to each platform Of course, I did not get all of these finished, which is pretty common. I always strive to complete them all, but most often I’ll fall short by one or two. If this happens to you, just remember not to be too hard on yourself. We’re only human and things come up that push us behind a little. Which is totally okay! I plan on being here tomorrow, and I’m okay with putting my mental health first so that I can pump out those goals a little bit better as I forge ahead. Saying No Was the Best Thing I Started to Ever Do Isn’t it weird that nightly routines are a thing? As a teen, that seems to go out the window because of sports or schoolwork, family functions or friend dates. But if you think about it, we all start out with routines as children…we just forget that we have to keep up with them as adults. My