Everybody knows that sleep is a form of rest for the body and mind. We have been taught that getting a solid 8 hours of sleep a night is important and healthy. Despite knowing about this, we often sleep too little or set ourselves up for bad sleep.
Why is sleep important?
Sleep is our facilitator, it literally improves our ability to function as humans on almost every level. This includes:
- Immune function
- Ability to learn
- Focus
- Empathy
- Regulating diet
- Overall drive and motivation
- Mood
- Cancer-prevention
- …
The book [MW] is a great read and goes into detail on why we need to sleep in sufficient quality and quantity and gives advice on how to improve on your sleep habits.
What I have done to improve sleep
Having studied mathematics, my ability to learn complex new information has always been something important to me. Hence, I started to prioritize sleep much more. One of the most important is setting an approximate bedtime 8 or more hours before I have to get up in the morning. Then, one hour before I plan to go to bed, I stop playing computer games or watching TV shows. In the remaining hour, I will usually read, brush my teeth, or do other things that help me relax. Also, I make sure the lighting around me is of lower intensity and is orange in color.
I do my very best to set myself up for around 8 hours of sleep every night and try to keep exceptions to a minimum. One of the ways I help myself do this is by making sure I have something to look forward to right after getting up. This could be reading a chapter in an exciting book, drinking a nice cup of coffee/tea or anything that gets me excited to get up in the morning.
One thing that helped me fall asleep faster and have an easier time staying asleep is reducing my non-sleep activities in bed. Not watching movies in bed and no day-time reading really helps in getting your brain ready to go to sleep when you lie down.
If at all possible, I do not use the snooze function. There are multiple reasons for this, but I have noticed that since I started sleeping enough and once I got used to not using snooze, I could just get up feeling energetic right after waking up. This especially helped me to be able to wake up before my alarm. I think (and I have not verified this), that waking up without snooze conditions you to wake up more easily and be more alert after waking.
My personal sleep-benefits
Apart from the things listed above, I have noticed several obvious improvements by making sure I sleep enough.
If I have to think through difficult concepts or write anything difficult, doing a little bit every day helps use insights gained during sleep. I have gone to the extent of taking afternoon naps just to let my mind work on a difficult problem (and to rest, of course). This has helped me become more proficient in most of my endeavors.
Keeping in mind that sleep will help me solidify what I have learned over the day and set me up for success tomorrow, as well as keep me healthy, going to bed feels like less of a chore and more of a privilege. Hence, my evenings are more pleasant and less stressed than they were in the past.
Sources
[MW]: Walker, Matthew. Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams. Simon and Schuster, 2017.
Great help! Thank you a lot!!