Why: Sleep is Crucial

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Repeat after me, sleep is crucial. One of the things that we tend to overlook and take for granted is our sleep. This natural process essentially prepares your body and mind for the day ahead. Without adequate sleep, you cannot perform at an optimal level. I don't even need to know what your profession is to say this.

During development it's what helps you grow, and if you're an athlete it's what helps you heal. Sleep is a large part of our lives but for something that takes up at least a 3rd of our day, we barely think about it.

If you're anything like how I was, you try to extend the amount of free time you have at night to do all the things you didn't have time to do during the work day. On a good night, you get to bed 8 hours before you're planning on getting up. Then before you know it, you wake up to a piercingly loud alarm to only put it on snooze and wake up to it again a few minutes later. You finally get up and find yourself in a sluggish state for the rest of the day. This vicious cycle repeats itself indefinitely.

Luckily for you, we'll buck this trend today. See my recommendations below, while keeping in mind that everyone is different. These lifehacks work for me, so feel free to pick and choose. Ultimately, life is a big laboratory of experiments to figure out what works best for you.

"Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together" - Thomas Dekker

How: Ways to Maximize Sleep

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1. MAKE YOUR BED: This step actually takes place shortly after waking up. During your morning routine, be sure to find time to make your bed. This is a quick task that allows you to check something off your list of to-dos in the morning, which will snowball into a day of productivity. Also, no matter how bad your day was, going to sleep in a bed that was made is just nice.

2. CHANGE YOUR RINGTONE: Many people have access to smart phones that allow you to set alarms for waking up; however, I'd venture to say the majority will use default ringtones (i.e. "Alarm" option for iPhones). You can actually select songs stored on your phones. Quick tip, don't use your favorite song because you'll hate it after a few days. Rather, choose an instrumental ringtone that begins softly and becomes louder as time progress. Bonus points, if it particularly inspiring.

   My Personal Track: Waking Up - Lone Survivor

3. KEEP DARK AND QUIET: Keep your room dark and quiet to minimize distractions to your sleep and risk waking up in the middle of the night. Quality of sleep is more important than quantity of sleep and this helps to keep you in REM sleep.

4. KEEP YOUR ROOM COOL: Keep your room cool, especially during the summers and simply use the right amounts of sheets and blankets to find the perfect resting temperature for you.

5. GIVE YOURSELF MORE TIME: Before purchasing a fitbit, I subscribed to the notion that if I want 8 hours of sleep, I should subtract 8 hours from when I want to wake up to determine when I should go to sleep. Boy, was I wrong! I found that it typically took me much longer than expected to fall asleep.

6. CONSISTENCY IS KEY: Acclimate yourself to going to sleep and waking up at the same time. Your biological clock is powerful for allowing you to sleep quickly.

7. TAKE A WARM SHOWER: Do this a few hours before you want to go to sleep. Taking a warm shower will help open blood vessels and decrease your heart rate, which is a prerequisite for falling asleep.

8. AVOID CAFFEINE, SUGAR, & ALCOHOL: This goes without saying that if you're wired on food or drinks high in caffeine and sugar, you're probably going to sleep well (if at all).

9. POSITION YOUR ALARM: After you send out your last text or check your last Facebook message for the night, be sure to place your phone or alarm out of arms reach. This will force you to get up to shut it off, thereby eliminating the chance of you hitting the snooze button.

10. DITCH YOUR CLOTHES: Sleeping without clothes is freeing and worth a try. Everyone falls into 3 categories: Clothes, Undies, Nude. The more clothes you wear in your sleep the more restricting the blood flow is in your body. If sleeping is a problem, then it's worth a try to experiment with all 3 and find out your favorite.

Thanks for Reading

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