Honor Your Body - It’s the Only One You Have

The pandemic continues to raise our stress levels and while the arrival of a vaccine is on the horizon, it will take a lot for us to navigate the next several months and beyond

I recently re-read Arianna Huffington’s book, The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time, and it continues to change my life.  

I knew that sleep was essential for health and well-being, but I see so many people caught up in the myth of how hard working and successful people must sacrifice their life for their career. That is a dangerous roller coaster to be on and it’s a constant reminder that we all must set our personal boundaries.

At a conference, I heard Huffington speak about how long hours don’t translate into productivity and the false badge of honor that people wear for being sleep deprived and over worked is extremely unhealthy and unsustainable, not to mention unnecessary.

She urged us to refocus and place the emphasis on productivity and not on the number of hours we toil at work. “If success looks like overwork, constant stress and sleeplessness – I don’t want it!” said Huffington. Giving thousands of women at the conference and millions who have read her book permission to self-nurture, honor your body, and define success on your own terms was empowering.

The lessons are simple and implementable. Design a unique life that replenishes your energy and honors your body. 

Sleep is Non Negotiable

Getting a good night’s sleep has many benefits you may not have considered. It can lead to:

·      Better sex

·      Weight loss

·      Stronger immune system

·      Clarity of mind

Every adult should get between 7-9 hours of sleep a night and you alone can determine your best sleep number. Of course, there are occasions when the baby gets up in the middle of the night, or your partner’s snoring keeps your awake.  Life happens! Create a bedtime ritual and sleep schedule that permits you to focus on your sleep and be more in control on a regular basis so the occasional sleep disturbances are minimal.

Bedtime Ritual

Huffington talks about the nightly preparation of going to bed, which signals to your body that it’s time to relax and rejuvenate after a long day.

·      Wear specific bedclothes (pajamas, night shirt, etc.) and not garments you would wear during the day.

·      Put your digital devices to bed – outside of your bedroom and out of eyesight and earshot. Digital detox is essential for peaceful sleep. 

·      Eliminate alcohol, caffeine and digital screens a few hours (caffeine varies with each person) prior to bed to give your brain and your body time to prepare for sleep.

·      Consider your alarm clock and adjust the sound to a soothing tone to awaken you gently and not frighten you awake with a startling noise.

Overworking is Not a Badge of Honor

Sleep deprivation is dangerous and those who constantly burn the midnight oil without resting deplete their bodies of energy needed to restore and heal each day. Sleep nurtures the brain and the most important thing we bring to work is our judgment. Prolonged lack of sleep is similar to alcohol or drug abuse in that motor skill functions and mental clarity are severely impaired. 

We know that driving while drunk is dangerous and unlawful yet millions go to work sleep deprived, which parallels an intoxicated state with lack of clarity and poor judgment.

Respect your body with rest. Huffington cites on her book that 70% of stress related health conditions could be reduced or eliminated with proper sleep. What matters is your energy and focus, not the time you put into things. Consider how you can work smarter and not longer to be more productive in life and career.

Make Time to Play

Design thinking was beautifully articulated by authors: Bill Burnett and Dave Evans in their book, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life.    

They posed a question that gave me pause to seriously re-evaluate my life. How much time to you devote to play in your life? Think of play as something that brings you pure joy. Disqualify competitive sports or working out if there is a goal attached like winning a game or losing weight, etc. Joy should bring you great happiness and pleasure without stress, or an end goal.

Perhaps you find joy hiking with your dog in the woods or cooking a special meal for loved ones. Think about how you make room (or not!) for joy in your life and consider how you can design a life with more joyful opportunities.

Joy – the state of elation, happiness and delight is by nature a reliever of stress. By making more time for play in your life – you will mitigate your stress level and create space for happiness.

Even with 8 hours of sleep each night, a regular exercise regimen, healthy eating and a renewed focus on joy in my life – I still succumb to stress. I get stressed thinking about how to get rid of my stress. So, what’s a savvy professional to do? 

Reset Your Intention Work/Life Priorities

The myth of burning the candle at both ends for success is not worthy of perpetuating. Making room for rest and joy in life as well as work and productivity will lead to a healthier populace and a less stressful integration of life and career.

Consider how you can be a role model in your place of work by setting an example and creating a culture that leads to wellness and a strong work ethic without sacrificing play and rest. Making time for the things in life that matter will lead to recruiting and retaining talent in organizations regardless of their generation. This is a unique time for a major shift in the world of work and life.

Arianna Huffington’s media platform Thrive Global provides resources and action steps to help you live a life that honors your health, well-being, and your professional endeavors.

“For far too long we have been operating under a collective delusion that burning out is the necessary price for achieving success. This couldn’t be less true. All the latest science is conclusive that, in fact, not only is there no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and high performance, but performance is actually improved when we prioritize our health and well-being. It’s time to move from knowing what to do to actually doing it.”

- Arianna Huffington

The Only Body You Have

Most impactful for me is the concept of relinquishing control. Huffington shared, “Life is a dance between making it happen and letting it happen.” and I for one am trying to move from struggle to grace. 

I will always be ambitious, focused, determined and goal oriented but I now understand that if I honor my body with sleep and try to mitigate stress, my body will honor me back with wellness of mind and spirit.  Sleep for me is part of adding more joy to my life. I feel refreshed, energized and nurtured after a great night’s sleep. I’m less concerned about working longer and instead being efficient and more productive. Onwards to a New Year to focus on what really matters!

Caroline Dowd-Higgins authored the book "This Is Not the Career I Ordered" and maintains the career reinvention blog of the same name. She is Vice President of Career Coaching and Employer Connections for the Ivy Tech Community College system and contributes to Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Ellevate Network, Medium and The Chronicle newspaper in Indiana. Her online video series: Thrive! about career & life empowerment for women is on YouTube. Caroline hosts the 3-time award winning podcast,  Your Working Life on iTunes and SoundCloud. Her TEDxWOMENtalk about reinventing a career and defining success on your terms is available on YouTube. Follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.