Why Sleep Is So Important For Focus

Today we’re going to talk about how to optimize your sleep to boost your performance and productivity.

I know a lot of people who struggle with getting quality sleep every night.

They shrug it off as “they’re a bad sleeper” but your sleeping habits can be improved.

There’s another group of people who don’t think sleep is important. They say:

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

The reality is your life will be much shorter if you don’t prioritize sleep.

Before going into the tactics on how to improve your sleep, it’s really important to understand why sleep is so important.

Removes Brain Fog

During sleep your brain activates your glymphatic system. Think of it as the brain’s cleaning crew. They clear out all the metabolic waste and toxins that build up throughout the day.

This cleaning process only happens while you’re sleeping. Never when you’re awake.

If you don’t prioritize sleep, the waste and toxins continue to build up over time and affects the way your brain functions.

This can lead to brain fog, slow thinking and makes it hard to focus.

Improves Your Memory

Sleep plays a crucial role in processing and storing memories throughout the day.

It uses this time to strengthen important neural connections and prunes out the weaker ones to transfer information in your short term memory into your long term memory.

Not only does it help you remember information you’ve learned throughout the day, it also frees up cognitive resources.

When memory is stored properly, it doesn’t need to waste energy on remembering temporary information which allows you to focus on the task at hand more easily.

Better Decision Making

The prefrontal cortex is the area in your brain responsible for planning, decision making, impulse control, etc.

Your brain makes around 35,000 decisions per day. Needless to stay that your prefrontal cortex needs some rest.

Especially if you want to make high quality decisions every single day.

Emotional Regulation

Sleep helps regulate your amygdala which is the brain’s emotional centre.

Lack of sleep makes your amygdala hyperactive which leads to you being more stressed and irritable.

When you become emotional your brain is spending resources trying to regulate these emotions rather focusing on work.

Improves Motivation

While your sleeping your brain resets the balance of dopamine and norepinephrine. These are brain chemicals that are responsible for focus, learning, motivation and alertness.

How To Improve Your Sleep

The question now becomes how do we improve our sleep?

Just because you spend 8 hours in bed every night, does not mean you will get quality sleep every night.

There are certain habits that you can implement throughout the day that will allow you to fall asleep fast and get good quality sleep every night.

Create A Consistent Sleep Schedule

Aim to fall asleep and wake up at the same time every single day. Including the weekends.

This is the hardest to implement but will have the greatest impact on our sleep.

Our body has a biological clock known as our circadian rhythm. We can train our bodies to fall asleep and wake up at a certain time each day.

Not only does this help you sleep faster, it also improves the quality of your sleep.

If you sleep 3 hours later than usual but still get 8 hours of sleep, the quality of that sleep won’t be as good compared to going to bed at your regular time.

Create The Ideal Sleep Environment

3 things for the optimal sleep environment:

1. Keep your room dark — a dark room signals your body to start creating melatonin

2. Keep your room quiet — if you live in a city like I do, you can use a fan, a white noise machine or ear plugs to block out the noise

3. Keep your room cool — the ideal room temperature is 18 C or 65 F. Experiment with what’s comfortable for you.

Establish A Bed Time Routine

Create a routine 30-60 minutes before bed that calms you down before going to sleep. This can include:

• Taking a warm shower or bath

• Reading a physical book

• Listening to a podcast

• Journaling

Avoid looking at your phone 60 minutes before bed.

Your brain perceives the light from your screen as sunlight and delays the production of melatonin.

Tire Your Body

You won’t be able to fall asleep if you don’t expend enough energy throughout the day.

That’s why physical exercise will improve your sleep.

Strategically Use Caffeine

Caffeine can be helpful to keep you alert and focused throughout the day.

If you consume caffeine too late in the day it’s going to negatively affect your sleep.

Avoid coffee, caffeinated teas and sodas 4-6 hours before bed.

This was a lot of info but I hope you found it useful on how to improve your sleep. You don’t force yourself to apply all this at once.

Start with what resonates with you the most and slowly build it out.

I’ll see you all next week.

Cheers,

Ashvin

P.S.

I’m doing FREE coaching calls for anyone looking to improve their motivation and overcome procrastination.

If that sounds like you, you can use this link to book a call with me. Looking forward to hearing from you.