So how many hours a night do you sleep?
Sleep deficit results in lowered immunity, hormonal imbalance, vision problems. When you don’t get enough sleep (7-9 hours according to research) you are irritable, impatient, easily angered. Lack of sleep affects areas of the brain responsible for logical thinking, decision making and concentration.
Jeff Bezos must know this because he sleeps 8 hours a night, claiming that it improves his decision making.
I used to not think about it, until one day while driving my son home from school I heard him ask: “Mom why aren’t you smiling?”.
And then I “woke up” so to speak… I was chronically tired because I hadn’t slept enough. After work, where I felt I should be smiling, I didn’t have the strength to do it for my family. That’s when I realized that sleep deprived and tired, I was a worse version of myself.
Now, when working with clients, groups of managers, we attach great importance to the topic of well-being, happiness and mental fitness. In each of these areas, one of the most important factor is sleep, good sleep.
In my favorite podcast The Happiness Lab, I heard the phrase: Happiness is like a leaky tire and happy people know how to fill their tires when they’re deflated.
Happiness takes work and consistency. You can’t inflate a leaky tire once and forget about it.
So let’s start with working on sleep. It will require changing of habits, maybe not watching all new series on Netflix or Amazon. By the way – Reed Hastings – CEO of Netflix said that Netflix’s biggest competitor is sleep.
If your kids are up to date with all the shows on this platform you should get a red light.
Kids come to school sleep deprived. They are not able to absorb knowledge. They are diagnosed as hyperactive, ADHD and others. And all it takes is simply taking care of the sleep.
So I encourage everyone to turn off their screens at least two hours before bedtime (blue light tricks our brains into thinking it’s daytime and activity time), read a book – to themselves or their children, get some quiet and sleep.
Sleeping like Jeff Bezos is the first step to happiness.
Maria Wajda
Manager, she gained her professional experience by managing teams in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Since 2016, she has been working as an Executive Coach (International Coaching Certification) and Mentor, helping leaders and their organizations to develop their potential.
