Get Some Sleep Today, Be productive Tomorrow

I still remember those days, the third class in high school, when I was overwhelmed from loads of responsibilities and tasks. 

The lights in my room were on till 1 a.m. and then after four or five hours were back on. Basically I slept only for four - five hours per day, at top six. Day after day for about nine months. Slowly, but obviously surely my body was getting "destroyed" and I wasn`t able to notice that because I had such an intense schedule.

It wasn`t few days after my intense schedule came to an end, when I felt the consequences, mood swings that would disappear, gained weight, felt wasted after 18 hours of sleep and feeling huffy. 

It was then, when I learned that is not only one of the strongest productivity tools in everyone`s life, it is as well among the most undervalued. 

By nature I am a sleeper and ambitious person, two characteristic that don`t go along. So, I never get enough sleep. My sleep is always procrastinated to the very last minute before I collapse from tiredness, but luckily very rarely I wake up than I anticipated. :) 

During the week I never, and I mean really never took the recommended eight hours of sleep. Yet, my cognitive skills are pretty much fine and I am able to finish my daily routines. 

The truth is that people need more or less sleep to function. Take for example the contrast between two great minds, Albert Einstein used to sleep for 10 hours per night plus the daily naps and on the other hand Thomas Edison slept only two or four hours per day.  

According to the doctors, it is advisable eight hours of nice sleep, but at the end, you are the one to decide how much your body needs sleep. 

In the eight-hour-sleep-cycle the average human will reach REM sleep between four and six times, every 90 minutes. So if you take naps during the day of less than 90 minutes and more than 30 minutes, the chances that you will feel groggy and anxious are high, and on top of that if you sleep during the night only two-four hours. You will feel even worse before you went to bed.

And if we add to the list, that we think over and over about our tasks and errands for the next day, or the broken washing-machine or if we will manage to take the children to school and get to the meeting that begins at 8.15 A.M. it will procrastinate your sleep maybe for another few hours. 

Here`s a tip:  Before you go to sleep, take few moments to plan your next day. Make your thoughts reminders with the help of  MarkO. Now with its new feature "voice recognition" you don`t even have to bother to type your reminder! What`s the benefit? You will have an organized schedule and get reminded in the right time at the right place. Afterwards you can go to bed and have a good sleep. 

For those who can`t fall asleep in short time, you don`t need to take sleeping-pills guys! Most probably you are doing something wrong before you go to bed. Try some of the next few tricks and find out, if they have positive effect on your sleep and on your productivity the very next day. :)

1. Stay away from electronics, including your laptop, smartphone, tablet or TV. You need to something that will relax you and prepare your brain for rest. Some prefer reading a book, other soft music or warm bath. Do what pleases you, as long as it puts you in relax state!

2. Forget drinking coffee few hours before you go to bed! That means as well that you must resist "committing the eight sin" - eating chocolate, because a dark chocolate contains caffeine and eaten late night might leave counting plenty of sheep. For example, dark chocolate Hershley`s candy bar contains about 30 milligrams, ten times as much caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.

3. Try to perform everyday in the evening similar or same things and train your brain in one routine. Most importantly, don`t go to bed everyday at different time! Your brain needs to tell you everyday that it is time for sleeping, which will be achieved with a routine.

4. Take naps during the day. At some point during the day you will feel a slump, so don`t hesitate, set your timer for 10-20 minutes, shut down the outer world, turn of the lights and take a nap. Yet, be careful, naps between 30 mins and a hour can make you feel worse than before. Known as inertia. So, if you tend to take a nap for longer time, make it full 90 mins sleep, so that you can at least once enter in the RAM sleep-cycle.

5. Reserve your bed only for good sleep and sex, just like Miles Kohrman from Fast Company says: "Your bedroom should be palace of sleep. It is okey, if you have a TV or a desk in your bedroom, but make sure that they don`t stand in your way of getting a nice sleep". Other things might make it harder for you to fall asleep, as you might think of something, which means you will have to count some more sheep.

Taking naps during the day is pretty much known as polyphasic sleep, Not familiar? Well, it is about taking naps during the day, for example every 4 hours you take a nap of 20 mins. Or if you have slept for less than 6 or 7 or 8 hours the night, you can take nap or two from 20 mins to get by the day.
But you must be have on your mind not to spend too much time awake with tooo little sleep.

For example, Tom Michelson from Daily Mail tried to live conducted one experiment. He tried to get by on just two hours per day! It included as well the polyphasic sleep based on twenty-minute-naps every four hours, meaning he didn`t sleep properly, i.d. 6-7-8 hours per night. 

Only after 90 hours he felt anxiety, mood swings ans struggles with the cognitive skills.
Therefore his doctor advised him to try replace his current type of polyphasic sleep. Now he experimented with three hours sleep at night and 20-mins-naps during the day every four hours, but after 10 A.M. The score? Boost in productivity, alertness, more energized.

So, my dear readers, get some good quality sleep, cause you will be surprised from its benefits. Try as well daily naps from 20 mins, and you will definitely skyrocket your productivity! Get more done with a rested body and brain!