Sleep for Success

“Without enough sleep we all become tall two-year olds.”

 – JoJo Jensen

I love sleep. I’m writing this amid a very busy season at work. Jill and I are expecting our 5th child in a few months. Sleep is a limited resource in my life right now and it is only going to become more so when the 5th Fowler arrives. 

What’s a sleep-deprived dad to do? Educate and Prioritize. 

Educate

I have a lot of questions about sleep. Here are the best answers I could find. 

How much sleep do we need?

According to the National Sleep Foundation toddlers need 11-14 hours, pre-schoolers need 10-13 hours, school-age kids need 9-11 hours, teens need 8-10 hours and adults need 7-9 hours. 

Don’t some people require more or less sleep?

Yes. According to international sleep authority Dr. James Maas, most of us are walking zombies, performing at a fraction of our capabilities. He has worked with professional sports teams and Olympic athletes to dramatically improve their performance by improving their sleep. 

Dr. Maas suggests says that if you answer “yes” to two more of the following questions you can consider yourself a walking zombie:

1. Does a heavy meal, a low dose of alcohol, a warm room, or a boring meeting make you drowsy?
2. Do you fall asleep instantly at night? (it is supposed to take about 20 minutes)
3. Do you need an alarm clock to wake up?
4. Do you sleep extra hours on the weekend?

I failed that test miserably. What about you?

Can I be successful sleeping that much?

Yes. Here is a list of some pretty famous sleepers:

• Roger Federer gets 10-12 hours when in a competition. 
• Lebron James sleeps 10-12 hours every day.   
• Tom Brady is known for going to bed at 8:30 p.m. to get his sleep. 
• Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame says he is more alert and thinks more clearly if he gets his eight hours. 
• Jennifer Lopez swears by getting 8 hours of sleep. 
• Matthew McConaughey says he needs 8.5 hours to be at his best.
• Warren Buffett advised workers at Salomon Brothers to choose sleep over extra profits. Warren generally gets a full 8 hours each night. 

Is sleeping less bad for me?

Here are some stats to scare us into sleeping more:

• People who slept 6 hours per night perform as poorly on cognitive tests as those who did not sleep at all according to a sleep deprivation study published in the journal “Sleep.” The biggest concern was the 6-hour group didn’t rate their sleepiness as a concern.
• Sleep-deprived people eat an average of 300 extra calories per day, leading to one pound of weight gain every two weeks. 
• Getting less than 7 hours of sleep increases the risk of early death, causes moodiness, weakens your immunity, increases the risk of accidents, reduces coordination, and negatively impacts both short and long-term memory. 

Can sleep help me be more successful?

Yes. 

• Sleep has been shown to improve the physical performance of athletes. In one study, varsity tennis players who increased their sleep to 9 hours per night improved their accuracy from 36% to 42%. 
• Sleep improves mood, coordination, concentration, immunity, and longevity. How could that not help you succeed? 

Prioritize

We all have 24 hours in a day. We create success in our lives by what we do with those hours. Based on what I’ve learned and the examples of extremely successful people, I need to make sleep a bigger priority in my life. Here are some tips on how we can all get a bit more sleep and improve our performance at work, on the field, and in life. 

• Stick to a schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time. Every day. 
• Don’t let sleep deprivation stack up. Recognize it early and adjust your schedule to catch up quickly. 
• Track it. Using watches, apps, or pen and paper track your sleep and journal how you feel. I started this last year and I was so impressed with how much better I felt when rested that I bumped up my sleep goal another 30 minutes this year. 
• Sleep on it. Right down anything that is on your mind before you go to bed. Pray about it and you might just wake up with the solution. I can guarantee that the problem will appear much smaller after a good night’s rest. Over and over again I’ve seen that God’s mercies are new every morning. 
• Limit smartphone use at night and turn it on night mode if you do. Night mode limits the blue light emitted from your phone that can keep you awake. The iPhone has a mode called “Night Shift” that you can schedule to turn on before your bedtime each night. 
• Save sleep for the bed. Keep naps to less than 30 minutes and before 2 pm. 
• Don’t consume any caffeine after 2 pm. 
• Don’t work in the bed. Reserve the bed for sleep and relaxation. 
• Never check email or news before bed. 
• Don’t drink alcohol within three hours of bedtime. You might fall asleep quickly, but the quality will suffer. 
• Get in the sunshine. It helps set your circadian rhythm and it just feels good…

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” – John Steinbeck

Improving my sleep habits has already had a huge impact on my life and I’ve got a lot more ground to gain. I hope this information encourages you to prioritize sleep for your performance, your health, and your life.

Are you ready to invest in your business to create long-term, sustainable growth? Head over to our Resource Page to find great tools to get you started.