The Most Under-rated Tool for Focus and Productivity

Sleep.

Adapted from Sensei Paul David’s course on Insight Timer, The Early Rise Advantage: Skills to Unlock Your Productive Mornings.

"Sleep rejuvenates our body and mind promoting physical and mental health.

Sufficient Sleep enhances cognitive function like concentration, memory and creativity.

Prioritizing sleep improves our mood, emotional well-being and overall quality of life.

Restful sleep boosts our energy levels, productivity, and ability to handle daily challenges effectively - it builds stress resilience."

Sleep is when your body rests and repairs. It is when it creates memories, organizes thoughts and discards unnecessary information. Sleep is also when your body is cleaning out the debris. In a certain stage of your sleep cycle, blood flow increases so that your blood can carry out the toxins and cellular debris that has build up during the day. There is also a mechanism that works like many tiny fire hoses to power spray the garbage out of your brain.

When you don’t sleep enough or have poor quality sleep — trouble falling asleep, snoring, waking throughout the night, or less than 6 hours sleep per night every night (it’s not an average, you can’t make up sleep that you've “lost”) — your energy will be lower, your focus, creativity and productivity will not be what they could be, your mood and emotions will be affected. In short, you will be functioning sub-optimally, or worse.

If you're having trouble sleeping, here are some simple things to pay attention to:

• Is your bedroom dark and cool at night?

• Did you stop screen time at least one hour before bed or at least use blue light blocking glasses after dark?

• Is your phone in a different room or at least on a different plane than your head? Set it on the floor if you can't get it out of your room.

• If you think you're waking due to low blood glucose, which in turn triggers the stress cortisol response and wakes you, consider a bedtime snack prioritizing protein, healthy fat and fiber.

• Did you drink alcohol - not just that day but in the last week?

• Did you drink caffeine after Noon?

• Are you magnesium deficient?

• Did you get a "dose" of morning sunlight to set your Circadian Rhythm?

In summary, get those all-important Zzzz's. It's worth it!