Sleep, Stress, and Energy all go hand and hand!
Never thought I would say these words: "Good Quality Sleep Matters!" When I was younger I would go days without sleeping and always thought it gave me the upper-hand. Boy, was I wrong. Little did I know the affects of long term sleep deficiency. It wasn't until recently that I realized the impact sleep can have and the importance of good quality sleep. As you may have gathered, if you follow our blog most of our posts are drawn from scientific studies as well as personal life experience. Having been through a lot of life in a short period of time and also having empowered 1000s to transform different areas of their lives, I have a lot to draw from, in addition to may scientific background. But today's topic really hits close to home as it explores how to truly harness your body natural energy to really transform your life and be able to enjoy the things that matter most. We all know life is short, so why not work on the things that we know could improve it.
Energy Management and Understanding Your Sleep Account
We all start somewhere: For me being able to improve my quality or quantity of sleep seemed like an impossible task, I was simply too overwhelmed to make any changes (even if it was to better myself).
But if there is one thing I have learned, life is really about what you put into it. It's like your bank account, which grows or shrinks based on how much you put into it or take out of it.
In the same way, your skills, knowledge, health, and relationships are either improving or deteriorating based on how much you are investing in them. The same is true for sleep, it's as if you have a sleep account.
For most people knowing what to do isn't the problem... for most people, creating habits that work for them instead of against them is all but impossible.
Most of us, let bad habit after bad habit creep into our life compounding the effects against ourselves. Without realizing it, we find ourselves:
spending more than we earn
eating more than we need
sleeping less and thus having less energy and focus
and doing less of what we enjoy
Most begin to: drink, smoke, sit, procrastinate, stagnate, and so on ultimately experiencing the devastating effects of their actions!
But just remember we all start somewhere, so it's never to early or to late to make a change for the better. To determine where you start with your sleeping habits take the sleep assessment to find out how your brain has been programed over the years, so we can help return your brain to your default mode of healthy sleep. In this post we are going explore realistic ways to deposit into your sleep account and manage your energy level healthfully.
Sleep Account
Even if we have the best of sleeping habits, there are going to be things that interrupt our sleep beyond our control. But don't worry even if you wake up depleted you can make up lost sleep. Our body cycles during the day just like it does at night. Research has found these daytime cycles to be about 90 minutes long. When we need rest at the completion of this 90 minute cycle our body signals us by hunger, drowsiness, fidgetiness, or less focus. We generally override this need of the body for rest with caffeine, foods high in sugar, and simple high glycemic carbs, and our bodies produce stress hormones like adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol. Many of us become addicted to this adrenalin rush generated by our stress hormones. We begin to train ourselves that this is how we need to work to get it all done, but that's just not the case long term. These stress hormones have an effect on productivity and our health. So if we work at high intensity for more then these 90 minute intervals we begin to draw from our reserves in our sleep/energy account to keep us going. one consequence of relying on our stress hormones as a source of energy is that the prefrontal cortex begins to shut down, which results in us becoming more reactive and less capable of thinking clearly, reflectively, or creatively. But fear not, there are healthy ways to boost energy, re-establish alertness, create focus, and improve attention.
So before I even share the tips and the tricks to restoring your energy, I want to share when I started to learn all of this I thought to myself, that all sounds good but I just do NOT have time. MY ADVISE IS MAKE THE TIME! It's all about working smarter, not harder by harnessing your natural power within. Below are the methods you can employ throughout the day that help boost your energy, calm your mind, and also help you sleep better at night by keeping your mind from over-racing:
Soothing Music Therapy
Now I know these seem hooky but after consistently using these tools to manage your energy instead of ignoring your bodies need for rest you will begin to feel better and the power harnessed from working with your body instead of against it. So before you knock the recommendation above, try it. Hopefully at least one of these techniques will work for you and you will see the value it adds to your life. By employing these methods you can recover much quicker and be much more effective, alert and productive, as well as take stress burden and negative health consequences out of the equation.
Are you getting enough sleep? Is sleep an area of your life that needs improvement? Take a FREE Sleep Assessment and than setup a FREE meeting to customize a plan to improve your sleep and energy management. “The quality of life you lead largely depends on how well you sleep at night.” So don't take the habit of healthy sleep lightly. Use some of the tips from our Bedroom Makeover Post to get the best sleep possible.
Here at Stretch Beyond Impossible, we believe in equipping people with the structure and tools necessary to live a life of balance and fulfillment. Our mission is to empower others to overcome everyday obstacles, experience everyday wins, realizing that you have everything you need within, to create the life you desire!!
Often times trouble sleeping goes hand and hand with other aspects of your life. Take a FREE Well-Being Assessment to determine what areas to focus on first. None of us are perfect, we start where you currently are, let's setup a meeting to customize a plan to suit your needs, and create an action plan that takes you from where you are right NOW to where you WANT to be!!!