Posts Tagged ‘caffeine’
Business entrepreneurs often feel they have to make a choice between getting the sleep they need and creating the success they desire. An article from US News and World Report turns this notion around and offers “6 Ways Lack of Sleep is Costing You a Fortune”. Below are some of my favorite excerpts. A link to the full article can be found at the end. I would also love to hear about your experiences in trying to balance sleep and work. What worked, what didn’t and what would you do differently if you could? Please leave your comments below.
Here are six ways lack of sleep can cost you money.
1. More Accident-Prone
Driving sleep deprived can be as dangerous as driving drunk. Anywhere from 16 percent to 60 percent of car accidents involve a sleep-deprived driver, and 30 to 40 percent of all heavy truck accidents are caused by fatigue.
2. Increased Medical Expenses
People who don’t get enough sleep are 15 percent more likely to have a stroke and 48 percent more likely to develop or pass away from heart disease.
3. Bad Financial Decision Making
Sleep deprivation causes people to restrict their choices to decisions that promise bigger gains, which aren’t always the best ways to accomplish positive results.
4. Sucking Out Success
When you haven’t gotten enough sleep, your brain doesn’t function as efficiently and isn’t able to remember things as well… The overall GPA of a sleep-deprived student versus a student who gets enough sleep is 2.84 as compared to 3.18.
5. Paying for Convenience
When you are tired, you are less likely to take care of tasks on your own. Be it washing your car, making dinner, or cleaning your house, if you are tired you are more apt to look to other people to take care of those tasks for you.
6. Caffeine Costs
If you buy espresso every day to help you stay awake due to sleep deprivation, you can end up spending upwards of $5,000 per year, or if you buy drip coffee everyday, you can end up spending close to $1,900 per year.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-Ways-Lack-of-Sleep-is-usnews-4244760345.html?x=0
Be sure to leave your comments below!
Best Wishes for Peaceful Sleep,
Patty
1) Put Sleep on Your To-Do List
These days life comes at us fast. Our daily tasks are listed and leering at us from our computers and date books. Even our phones chirp and chime at us throughout the day to let us know when it’s time to do this or that. Many of us are so busy we rarely accomplish everything on the list; we just keep moving from one meeting or project or chore to the next until we can’t go on any further and then we collapse. The surprising thing is, that as exhausted as we may be, sleep is not necessarily waiting right there to catch us when we fall! In fact, overfull days can easily become overalert nights.
For sleep to be as consistent and reliable as we would like it to be we need to give it as much respect as all our other appointments and obligations. Sleep needs to be scheduled into the day from the start so that the rest of the day can be built to accommodate it. If we leave sleep as an afterthought, treat it like leftovers or make it a last choice, sleep may become as elusive as a scorned lover. Declare your feelings; let sleep know it is important to you by giving it a priority place on your schedule and keeping your promise to show up on time. Then you will find sleep becomes more available for you.
2) Exercise
While we have that BerryPhone out, let’s pencil in some exercise. The ideal time would be mid to late afternoon, but any time is better than no time, as long as you finish at least 2 hours before bedtime. A brisk walk in the sunlight is excellent. A spin class after work, awesome. Let your body move in space as it was designed to do. Get your heart rate up a bit. Sound sleep depends on changes in our core temperature. We sleep better when our inner temperature is falling. If we never do anything to raise our temp in the first place it’s like working in a room with no windows. The natural rhythms of the day and night are lost.
3) Eat Regular Balanced Meals
Speaking of natural rhythms, our bodies take their cues about when it is time to sleep and when to be awake from several different things. Light is really important, as is exercise and temperature changes as we just discussed. Another strong cue can come from regular mealtimes. It is important to eat, i.e. fuel the machine, several times during the day. Good, unprocessed, organic food is always preferable. If you go to bed hungry you are likely to find yourself awake, standing in front of the fridge at 3 a.m. Likewise, if you eat a big heavy meal 30 minutes before lying down for the night, your bodily functions will be busy with digestion. Sleep is likely to be delayed or at least restless for a couple hours. Regular nutritious meals at thoughtful intervals through the day can help you sleep more soundly at night. There are certain foods that can assist or hinder your ability to fall asleep easily or stay awake when required, but that is for another post.
4) Make a Worry List
Here we are back at lists again! This one however is one you should do nearer the end of the day, but not too close to bedtime. Right after dinner would be a reasonable time for this exercise. The idea here is to sit down with a blank piece of paper (several if needed) and let all those nagging little thoughts that are likely to start circling in your brain after lights out and spill them out in ink. You don’t have to be neat — just get it out on paper for safekeeping overnight. You may write out tomorrow’s to-do list, or a reminder to get the tires rotated. You may jot down an idea for next week’s presentation or just a gripe about an inconsiderate neighbor. What ever comes up, put it down. Once this “brain dump” is complete you’re free to slip away to slumber without concern you’re missing something. If, out of habit, one of those petty thoughts tries to rise up after you’re down for the night you can let it go quickly, knowing you’ve covered that ground already and have it well secured on your “worry list”.
5) Invite Sleep In
After our busy day is done, after the workout is over, after the worry list is written and the dinner dishes done, there needs to be one more task to really get the most out of our coming night’s sleep. We need to wind down. There needs to be a very clear separation between our waking day and our sleeping night to reinforce the change in states we are seeking.
Remember the bedtime routine your mom set up for you when you were little, or the ones you have for your kids? Well, bedtime routines aren’t just for children. In addition to brushing our teeth, changing into our jammies and checking the closet and under the bed to be sure there are no monsters lurking, there are some grown-up things we can do.
First, an hour before “official” bedtime, turn off all your screened devices. That includes computers, video games and phones. Dim the lights and engage in a relaxing stress free activity. This may be a warm bath, a soothing cup of caffeine free tea, a good lighthearted book or soft music. Relaxing yoga poses, a foot massage or lovemaking can also ease the body toward slumber. With this obvious change in lighting, mood, thought and activity you signal your mind and body to prepare for sleep. In essence, you invite sleep in.
When it’s time, lay your head on your pillow, give thanks for your blessings, turn out the light and
Best Wishes for Peaceful Sleep,
Patty
We are a sleep deprived society. Whether by choice or force it seems that sleep time is being cut shorter and shorter. But for what? So we can put in more hours at work? So we can drive longer distances to get there? So we can attend more functions because we’re “supposed” to rather than because it enriches us? So we can see who finally wins the dance/singing/weight loss/dating/cooking contest on TV? So we can see who retweeted what to whom in the last 45 minutes? What has happened to our perspective?
This is National Sleep Awareness week. It is an annual observance sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation to turn the countries attention to the importance of sleep as a vital component in our health, happiness and productivity. As a part of the special week, results from numerous surveys are released and the media is popping with “new” information and statistics about sleep. Here are some I found especially eye-opening:
- The poll found that 43% of Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 say they rarely or never get a good night’s sleep on weeknights.
- Americans report very active technology use in the hour before trying to sleep. Almost everyone surveyed, 95%, uses some type of electronics like a television, computer, video game or cell phone at least a few nights a week within the hour before bed.
- A quarter of Americans leave their cell phone ringer on when they go to sleep.
- Americans are coping with sleepiness by drinking caffeine and taking regular naps. The average person on a weekday drinks about three 12 ounce caffeinated beverages.
- 52% respondents reported they have driven a car when drowsy. Among folks age 19 to 29, almost 2/3rds admitted to the dangerous activity and 50% said they had done so within the LAST MONTH!
You can get more detail on these disturbing findings at the NSF website: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/alert/sleepy-connected-americans
Sleep is a normal, natural and VITAL function. If we deprive our system of the time it needs to repair, restore, resort, rebalance and refresh, the system will break down. It’s not a matter of IF, it’s only a matter of WHEN.
Honor yourself this week, during National Sleep Awareness week and try paying attention to the choices you are making when it comes to your sleep. If you are struggling with finding the way to get the sleep you need, let’s hear about it in the comments section below. (in some browsers, the “comment” button is really, really tiny…). In the meantime know you always have my
Best Wishes for Peaceful Sleep,
Patty