It is time for a good night’s sleep!
Remember this blog is a continuing story from the last few blog posts about getting control of your health and life as business leader. We have dealt with physical activity and food intake. Now it is time for a good night’s sleep. Let’s look at your sleeping habits and see if they support you or if they work against you. To be a successful business leader you need to sleep properly at night. And you do not sleep properly on your workdesk!
Sleep is essential for a healthy life. During sleep the body repairs or disposes of damaged cells, and the brain is refreshed. While we sleep, our body takes inventory and does its housecleaning, so to speak.
Lack of sleep will cause you to become irritable and distracted. You can do with one or two nights without sleep, but if you miss more than that, your job performance will suffer; the risk for accidents will increase.
In addition, the hormone systems ruled by the brain – the immune system, metabolism and so on – are disrupted because they need the sleep to regenerate their systems. There is also a connection between lack of sleep, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Note that too much sleep – more than eight hours per night – is a sign of illness. So, you can see that continuous lack of sleep or an imbalanced sleep pattern will eventually make you ill.
Drinking alcohol will make you sleepy. However, the sleep you get as a result of drinking is not physiologically beneficial. Plus, the risk for developing alcoholism is greater if you use alcohol as a sleeping pill too often.
Generally, seven to seven and a half hours of sleep is ideal. It is important for you to get regular sleep without relying on sleeping pills. If you do have trouble sleeping, create conditions that encourage sleep.
The first step is to look at your own sleeping situation today. Do a Sleep diary for a week = write down your observations of the night each morning. It will help you find the weak spots in your sleeping pattern and it is not until you see what the problem is that you can do something to correct it.
One example of how to induce productive sleep is to ensure your bedroom is cool and comfortable. Keep it clean; remove clutter or anything that might disturb your thoughts. The bedroom is for sleep, not work.
What do your sleeping habits look like? Do they support you or do they work against you? Do you have a tip for a good nights sleep? Please comment below!
If you find this information useful I would be happy if you share it in your network. Maybe you even know someone who really needs this – feel free to give them the link to this blogpost.
If you need professional help maybe Dr Annika´s mentoring program for business leaders “Strategies to cope as business leader” will suit you. The groups are small with maximum six participants to keep it confidential; the program can also be done individually.
I have six open groups (1 full day + six month follow up) in Swedish with the program this fall, two each in Lund, Gothenburg and Stockholm and one open group in English in Lund. You can also get the program as teleseminar in group or individual via Skype. Contact for more information.
Keep smiling!
