Discover How to Boost Your Resilience With Sleep
Do you feel irritable for no reason, have trouble focusing, or are constantly feeling run down? Consider this, how would your day be different if you woke focused, refreshed, and excited to embrace the day ahead? It’s sad that today’s culture promotes burnout far more than a good night’s rest. With the incessant message of constantly being on, and doing more, it’s no wonder that sleep is no longer prioritized. Sleep is what’s given up for the sake of other areas of life, which can have really serious impacts later in life, after years of running at 110%.
Today I’ll empower you to tune out the message of “do more” and instead give yourself the power to prioritize rest. Learn the top benefits of quality sleep, and by the end of this post, I know you’ll be a believer in the power of a great night’s sleep.
Incredible Benefits of Quality Sleep:
Let’s start out with chatting about the benefits of a quality night’s sleep. If you’re still uncomfortable or unsure about putting sleep ahead of other priorities, let me share an incredible list, which is sure to peek your interest!
Increased energy allowing you to make healthier lifestyle choices
Strengthened & increased immune system
Heightened alertness, focus, and creativity
Improved mood by reducing anxiety, irritability, and mental exhaustion
Increased libido
Effects of Sleep Deprivation:
I always aim for transparency and sharing both sides of the story. So consider this, here are the direct effects of sleep deprivation on your body:
Weight gain: People who sleep less are likely to consume more calories throughout the day, especially high-fat foods later in the evening.
Increased risk of chronic disease: Sleep deprivation causes your immune system to be compromised; over time making you more susceptible to hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Increased risk of accidents & injury
Decline in cognitive function: Sleep loss is scientifically proven to impair decision making. As we age this becomes more pronounced.
Increased anxiety: Your emotions are more likely to feel more unpredictable when your body is deprived of sleep.
Simple Ways To Achieve Quality Rest:
Now that you understand how great sleep can make your life better, and the downfall of not getting quality rest, you’re probably wondering how to actually put this into practice. Here are four of my top suggestions for achieving a better night’s rest, and the best part is each one is completely free and simple to implement in your busy life!
Clear up the clutter
Aim to make your bedroom be a place of rest & relaxation. The more we try to multi-task our space the more our sleep is impacted. Take out the weights, and yoga mat, those can go another room. Instead focus your bedroom on sleep and relaxation. A clear space brings mental clarity and quality rest. So spend 15 minutes clearing out the clutter and focusing your bedroom on being a relaxing space.
Remove electronics from your room
Be honest, do you sleep with your phone beside you, or do you own an old school alarm clock? I highly encourage having a shut down time with your phone, and leaving it plugged in another room while you sleep. Out of sights out of mind. If your phone is beside you and you wake in the middle of the night, it’s far more tempting to give it a peek. There is a ton of great research supporting the importance of having your bedroom be device-free.
Create a bedtime routine
We do this for our kids, but I’d bet it’s less likely you do this for yourself. The routine doesn’t have to be stringent, but I encourage having a flow for your evening that leads you to winding down and a restful night’s sleep. Be sure to build in time to do things that help you relax and wind down. Allow time to disconnect, since screen time doesn’t allow our minds to slow down. Find small things that bring you joy, and slow you down from the busy day, and you’ll reap the benefits by having more quality sleep.
Mindfulness practice
Another great idea to incorporate into your bedtime routine is a mindfulness practice. Whether you enjoy meditation, a gratitude practice, journaling, or stretching, these are all shown to increase your quality of sleep. Your mind is busy all day, if you can take time to let it clear and decompress from the day, your sleep will directly benefit. As I’ve said before, it doesn’t have to be a long time devoted to mindfulness practices, as little as one minute can have a positive effect. So give it a try, we all have one minute to spare! If you’re looking for options, check out this recent blog post focused on one minute mindfulness meditations.
Now that you understand the incredible benefits of sleep, as well as the harm from sleep deprivation, I hope you’ll join me in trying the simple changes to achieve more quality sleep moving forward. Habits are hard to change, but the more we focus on micro-goals and tiny shifts in our behaviors, the more we put ourselves on the path to long-term lasting change.
If this blog has left you inspired to prioritize rest & recovery, check out Understanding the Power of Disconnecting where you’ll learn the top 5 benefits of disconnecting, with simple action steps you can put into place today!