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Episode #54
I want to talk about the importance of sleep because getting control of my sleep, more specifically the quality of my sleep, was a game-changer for me when I was working towards leaving my corporate job and starting my business. Why? Because until I was able to get the rest my body needed, I didn’t have the brain power and energy to keep my day job on track while also doing all the things I needed to do to make my escape happen.
Whether you work from the office, at home or have a flexible arrangement, it can be hard to prioritise quality sleep. But in order to deal with all that comes with a 9-5 job, be able to build the foundations of your new business and navigate your way out of the employee world to become your own boss, you need all benefits that come with being well-rested. So how can you get control of your sleep so you can achieve your goals?
STOP FOCUSING ON HOURS & FIND A ROUTINE THAT WORKS
There is a huge emphasis in society on the number of hours of sleep you should have. With a thing about having 8 hours as an optimum. But also we are told that when you are younger your need more, and when you are older you don’t need as much so it’s not a clear-cut thing. So like anything, sleep is subjective and personal to you and your body’s needs. So you have to find what is best for you. What makes you feel the most refreshed and ready for the day.
On a night when you are not exhausted but ready to sleep, allow yourself to sleep for as long as you want without any alarm to wake you. See how long it is until you naturally wake up. You need to try this a few times to get an idea of the sleep window that’s best for you, but you should be able to hone it down to an approximate number.
Once you know what window of time your body needs to be well-rested and rejuvenated, then you can aim to sleep for some time within that window, yes it’s probably better to have more or less the same amount each night but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t because we all know that life gets in the way and it’s not always possible to get all the shut-eye you want.
According to Stephanie Romiszewski, an experienced consultant sleep physiologist and UK channel 4's sleep expert, instead of being fixated on a number of hours and having a set bedtime, the most important thing is to have a set wake-up time. So whatever time you have managed to get to bed, you should always get up at the same time. That routine is super important for the body to plan for the day. And that makes sense right, if the body has a different time to start up each day the brain can’t plan for the natural processes that are needed to keep us on track. Stephanie R says that having a clear morning wake-up routine will make all the difference. And that goes for weekends too! She says that there is a big fallacy in the idea that sleeping in on a weekend is a luxury because all it does is upset that routine we have worked all week to instil. The body has just got used to waking us up at say 7 am and then we sleep until 9 or 10 am and it doesn’t know what’s going on. It recalibrates and then we go back to 7 am on Monday again and wonder why it feels so bad getting up on a Monday morning! So, whatever else you do to get better with your sleep, you need to have a set wake-up time and eventually, you will wake up at that time naturally and will feel so much better not being shocked out of sleep with an alarm. Stephanie did say that it does not mean don’t ever lie in ever again, that would be impossible, but stop seeing it as a luxury to have at the weekend. Another bonus is, just think how much time for fun you would have if you got up that bit earlier on a weekend!
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE QUALITY
If you’ve been thinking ‘‘oh but I need to catch up on hours I missed during the week’, I’m sorry to say it doesn’t work like that! Once you have missed sleep hours, they are gone! The best way you can make up for lost sleep is by aiming to have better quality sleep over the following nights. What does quality sleep mean?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, Sleep quality is the measurement of how well you’re sleeping—in other words, whether your sleep is restful and restorative.
It’s made up of four factors:
Sleep latency: So how quickly you fall asleep, which is ideally within 15 to 30 mins.
Sleep waking: This is how often you wake up during the night. If you wake up a lot it disrupts your cycle and the quality of sleep.
Wakefulness: This is how long you spend awake, once you have woken up during the night. Ideally, it should be less than 20 mins.
Sleep efficiency: The amount of time you spend actually sleeping while in bed, which should be around 85%.
A good way to monitor your sleep quality is to get a fit bit or smartwatch, anything that measures sleep, which will show you when you fell asleep, how often you woke up and for how long you were awake. It also shows you what cycles of sleep you’ve been through, like Light sleep, Rapid Eye Movement and Deep sleep, all of which are equally important for your quality of sleep and health in general.
In his book ‘Why We Sleep’ sleep expert Professor Matthew Walker explains the workings of the body in relation to sleep and how you can prevent mental and physical illnesses by improving the amount of quality of sleep. This book is fantastic if you want to dive deeper into this topic and all of what I’ve just been talking about.
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
The good news is, it is possible to get better quality sleep. The whole process is controlled by habits. If you get the right habits in place you will be able to break the cycle and transform your relationship with sleep.
How do you do that? Set yourself up for success by planning ahead, and make it easier to stick to what you’ve committed to.
Be mindful about what you put into your body
First up, think about what you put in your body during the day, particularly later in the day, and how that may affect your sleep. Ideally, you would eat before 7 pm so your body has stopped digesting and can rest but if you get in from work after that and can’t avoid eating late, have something lighter that is not going to sit in your stomach like a stone as you sleep.
Think about having your last coffee or any other caffeinated drinks by midday.
Sleep expert, Matthew Walker says that caffeine has a massive effect on sleep even if you don’t drink it in the evening. If you are a coffee lover then I suggest you set an alert reminder on your phone or computer to say when to stop having caffeine, and maybe drop down to decaf in the afternoon as you transition.
Wine and other alcohol can also be bad for sleep. It may feel like it makes you sleepy and ready for bed but actually, it’s knocking you out rather than sending you to sleep and you lose out on all the benefits of quality sleep. I’m not saying ‘never drink alcohol at night’ as I know for many people that would be difficult, but try to leave it just for weekends and special occasions.
Look into your diet too, as some foods may upset your sleep, but they will be personal to you. You’ll know when they do because your stomach will be upset, or you will be restless in bed, or you’ll have nightmares.
Finally, make sure you drink plenty of water and don’t go to bed thirsty. Your body needs to be well hydrated to do all it needs to do to get you ready for the day ahead.
Create a sleep routine you love
You have to get yourself to the sleepy state that allows you to drop off within 15 -30 minutes
Otherwise, you will just toss and turn and feel even worse because you can’t get to sleep, even if you are physically in bed. So 30 mins before you aim to go to bed, start your pre-sleep routine. Dim the lights, put the phone, laptop or tablet away, make a hot drink like herbal tea, take a bath if you enjoy them, read a book or a magazine and listen to some chill-out music.
Ideally, all screens will be off, but if you really want to watch tv, get into your comfy pj’s and watch something relaxing, heartwarming or fun like a comedy. Nothing too action-packed or violent or complicated so you are thinking about it all night. You want to start feeling relaxed, your mind quiet and for your eyelids to start to droop so you know when you get into bed you will drop into sleep fairly easily. This routine should not be a chore, it should be something you look forward to at the end of the day, some me time, or if you have a partner, some time together to chat and wind down.
Get rid of distractions
To make sure you don’t fall into bad habits make it easier to do what is best for yourself. Get rid of things that could distract you from your plan to have a night of good quality sleep. Productivity guru, Nir Eyal calls this Hacking Back External Triggers, in his book ‘Indistractable’. He gives the example of putting a timer on his internet router so that after 10 pm there was no internet which meant he and his wife would not both be on their phones and had more time together. Yes, he could turn it back on, but to do that he had to make a conscious effort to go and turn it back on and that time allows him to think “do I really need this on right now, and why did I set this up in the first place”. Which was enough to disrupt his need to have the internet on and realise other things were more important.
Other things you could do is have the lights on timed dimmers, have no TVs or electronic devices in your bedroom so you’re not tempted to use them or make sure you have no alcohol in the house. Or if that’s not possible, do what I did and just put post-it notes with “don’t do it” or “remember your sleep” on the bottle, which just made me pause long enough to decide it was not worth having the wine if it meant I wouldn’t sleep well. Sometimes you don’t even want the wine, chocolate, coffee, ice cream, whatever it is you reach for. It’s just a habit you have of finishing work and your chores for the day and reaching for that thing. So find ways of making it easier for yourself not to give in to things that will negatively affect your sleep quality.
Putting effort into changing and improving my sleep quality was life-changing. I had so much more energy and was far more creative in the morning and throughout the day, and felt far more able to cope with the work of my day job and my side hustle. I was still arriving and leaving my house at the same time but with a few new evening habits in place at the end of the day, I made the most of the time I had to relax and optimised the time I was asleep. I’m not saying it happened overnight, or that I stick to it all the time, but overall it really was a game-changer!!
THE BOTTOM LINE IS…
If you are serious about leaving your day job and starting your own business or becoming a freelancer, you will need to be energised, clear thinking, focused and alert, and to do that you need to be well-rested. So before you tackle anything, find a sleep routine that works for you and change your habits to make it work.
As mentioned in the episode
Diary of a CEO - Interview with Stephanie Romiszewski
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Indistractable BY Nir Eyal
What Is Sleep Quality - National Sleep Foundation
