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Should you sleep your way to the top?
If you’re talking about actual snooze time, then yes!
Despite the fact that sleep is massively undervalued in our over-paced society, it’s one of the best investments you can make–both in terms of your body and your business.
(The two are more closely connected than you may think!)
If you’ve been hustling to achieve all your goals–pushing through to pound out work projects while harnessing as much control as you can to hit your weight loss goals through diet and exercise–perhaps this news will come as a bit of welcome relief.
Or maybe you’ll actually find yourself more stressed out by it–who has the time to sleep when there’s so much to be done?
But hopefully by the end of reading this, you’ll be convinced that even YOU will be glad you spent some quality time with your sheets.
YOUR BODY ON SLEEP
First, let’s talk your body.
For many entrepreneurs, tending to our weight is just one more application of discipline–the do’s, the don’t’s–and the effort put forth in hopes of yielding your intended result.
But when you’ve already got a full stress load from running a business, your delicate hormones can be thrown off kilter, leading your body to slow down its metabolism.
Add sleep deprivation on top of that, and you’ve got a recipe for unhealthy weight gain.
Sleep may very well be the magical missing ingredient to your weight-loss regimen.
In fact, a study done by the Canadian Medical Association reveals that all things being equal, people who get proper amounts of sleep lose far more weight than those who don’t–even when they’re on identical exercise and nutrition plans!
Sleep unleashes a cascade of healing effects that restore our bodies to homeostasis–that symmetry of function where nothing is out of order in our body’s regulatory processes.
But stress and/or sleep deprivation can have the opposite effect–inviting inflammation, bloating, and a host of weight-related problems.
I put this theory to the test myself during a stressful period last year, in which I noticed my jeans were suddenly getting snug around the waist.
Frustrated because I had been following the exact same type of exercise schedule and eating habits that I always had (which usually kept my waistline right where I wanted it), I wondered if the extra stress levels in my life at the time had put my body in a deficit of rest and repair.
(I had been working a really stressful day job while building my business and working on stacks upon stacks of adoption paperwork.)
So I picked a 3-day period in my schedule where I could arrange to go to bed a full 90 minutes earlier than usual, and voila!
After just a few days of getting extra sleep, my belly flattened, my jeans slid on more comfortably, and I felt like myself again.
There are several reasons why sleep impacts your weight.
In my own case, for example, I was experiencing an overload of stress and required additional sleep to repair the inflammation and bloating that had occurred as a result of too many demands on my time and emotions.
But sleep deprivation can work in more roundabout paths to chip away at your healthy weight as well.
For example, sleep deprivation messes with your hunger and satiety hormones (ghrelin and leptin, respectively) which can lead to deceptive feelings of hunger and a drive to overeat.
It also reduces activity in your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for things like willpower and self-control, while increasing the reactivity of the amygdala, our emotional center which is more concerned about feeling good in the moment than long-term actions and consequences.
Sleep is also the time in which the body actually integrates all of the benefits associated with exercise.
The muscle fibers repair themselves during sleep, which leads to greater muscular tone and improved metabolism.
Exercising without getting proper sleep is like building an email list without ever contacting them.
All that hard work just goes to waste!
I’m all about working smarter, not harder.
So if you’re already exercising and eating well, but frustrated with the results, try giving your body what it needs through sleep!
YOUR BUSINESS ON SLEEP
It’s time to throw out the old adage of “sleep when you’re dead.”
As an entrepreneur, you need to be on top of your game. You’re not just showing up to work each day doing the same rote tasks that someone tells you to.
You’re the decision maker. You’re the visionary. You are the one who determines the processes that bring everything to life.
All that requires massive brainpower. And how we take care of our brains will have an enormous impact on how they perform.
Can you imagine buying an expensive piece of machinery for your business, and then letting it rust outside in the elements? No, you’d service it, maintain it, clean it, polish it–you’d take care of it so it would last!
Your brain is your business’ most valuable asset.
So why do you treat it like crap?
Sleep is one of the absolute best ways to care for your brain.
Getting good sleep sharpens the activity in your prefrontal cortex, as mentioned earlier, which helps you improve your decision-making and strategic thinking.
The opposite is also true. Sleep deprivation leads to slower reaction times and decreased accuracy. In fact, driving while sleepy has shown to be even more dangerous than drunk driving!
Sleep also synthesizes data in your brain, so that you can literally wake up more creative and discover solutions that you may not have if you were sleep deprived.
READY FOR BED?
Fortunately, sleep quality can make as big of a difference as sleep quantity.
(Although I don’t care how high-quality your sleep is–you can’t truly function well on just a few hours!)
Here are some tips for improving your sleep quality:
- Remove any artificial light sources from your bedroom–including cell phones, night lights, bedside clocks, etc.
- Wearing a sleep mask like this one I use can help block out light when you’re traveling.
- Prioritizing sleep between 10pm and 2am will help you take advantage of the “wonder window” in which your body’s most beneficial repair hormones are most strongly secreted
- Get some exposure to sunlight early in the day to cue your body’s natural circadian rhythms.
- Set the temperature cooler in the bedroom to cue your body that it’s time to sleep
- Ask your doctor is taking a natural melatonin supplement is right for you for a short-term fix during periods of high-stress or sleep disruption
An equal part of the sleep equation, however, is also just re-training ourselves to value it.
Here are some tips for making more sleep a regular part of your routine:
- Set a regular bedtime and use an alarm to remind you
- Create a wind-down routine that cues your mind for relaxation and sleep
- Be disciplined about using your time wisely throughout the day so that you’re not scrambling to finish projects late at night
- Recruit the help of your partner or family members to help keep you accountable to getting the rest you need
Want to get started on your own wind-down ritual? Check out my previous episode on RELAXING BEDTIME ROUTINES TO TAME STRESS AND INDUCE SLEEP
If you still need a little help winding down, try my free 15-minute gentle yoga video to help soothe you for sleep.
