SLEEP LESS FOR PROGRESS OR MORE FOR HEALTH

You have probably heard it a thousand times from some of the world’s most successful and well established individuals, that sleep does not pay and that you should sacrifice sleep in order to succeed. You have heard how they say hustlers do not sleep, they chase those dreams all night while the average person snores away.

What you may have also heard is some of the worlds most successful and well respected doctors saying that we should all sleep for an adequate amount of time everyday (most recommend approximately 8 hours) in order for our bodies and minds to function well, they say sleeping less would jeopardize your health. They emphasize the importance of sleep, not just sleep, but an adequate amount of sleep.

So which of these do you choose to apply in your life? Do you take the advice of someone who is where you want to be in life or that of someone who is qualified to give advice on the particular subject?

Different truths

Well doctors are telling the truth, no doubt about it. It is very important for you to get some rest. If you have gone a few nights without sleep then you probably know this very well. All of a sudden you start underperforming, and become super exhausted to a point where it is hard to think about anything. Sometimes it may even cause some health hazards, you might get ill from lack of sleep or your mind might not function as well as it used to.

With all that said, the successful people are very right as well. Sometimes the 24 hours seems like 24 minutes, and at such times you want to start eliminating activities that are time consuming, and sleep happens to be one of them. When they say do not sleep they do not mean you should spend the rest of your life with your eyes wide open, not even at night. What they mean is that instead of sleeping for very long hours, you should rather get some rest for a reasonable amount of time.

Sometimes we are faced with a heavy workload on our shoulders or we have so many things to do and get done, and time just doesn’t seem to be enough. What your body and mind needs during a time like this is some rest, not necessarily sleep. Your mind is always working even at times you might ‘think’ it is not. Your subconscious mind is always working, it is that one very determined employee that just does not want to leave the office. Therefore, you need as much rest as you can.

Necessary resting is different from just mere sleep. You would hear a musician saying “I haven’t slept in a few weeks because I’ve been touring the country”. Do you really think he did not blink an eye for a few weeks? He did, but not for mere sleeping, he was resting. It was very necessary. To put it in simple alternative terms, resting is napping. Instead of sleeping for all those hours, you could just take a short nap and you will feel no different than you would’ve felt after a long sleep.

Some might disagree because they have tried cutting out some hours of sleep and probably failed. That is because you did not do it right, yes there is a right way of doing this. The main reason why most people fail when trying to decrease the amount of hours they spend sleeping is because they try to pour 10 liters of water in a 1 liter bottle. If you have been sleeping for more than 8 hours every night of your life, you cannot, all of a sudden, sleep 2 hours a night. You have to progress to those 2 hours. First try decreasing 30 minutes, then an hour, then 2, and work your way up. Sleep is like a habit, one you cannot get rid of, but can control and manipulate.

When people limit the duration of their sleep, they assume that when you wake up you’ll be more tired. They assume that if you sleep less then automatically you get less rest. That is not the case. People who sleep less have realized that sleeping less does not have to affect your quality of rest at all, maybe the quantity, yes, but not the quality of it. What is even better is that you can make up for the quantity by increasing the quality of your rest. That is the big “secret”. They do not just sleep less and make very impressive progress in other terrains, they sleep less and ensure that they increase the quality of their rest which will then allow them to progress in their day-to-day lives.

You have to sleep less and rest more. You satisfy the theories of both your doctor and role model. You sleep less in order to work harder, make progress and success, and you rest more to improve your physical and mental health. You have to take certain steps and apply certain knowledge in order to get more rest. Below is a list of ways you can ensure that you sleep less and rest more.

Firstly, here’s some tips on cutting down on sleep

Study yourself

Before we can discuss the nitty gritty, we have to first focus on the main subject here. Which in your case is yourself. You first need to study yourself, your sleeping routine, are you a morning person, your sleeping habits, your sleeping preferences and the amount of sleep that is best fit for you.

Find out what time you are most comfortable sleeping at, would you rather sleep later than usual or wake up earlier than usual or both? That is the kind of question you should ask yourself before deciding to cut off some time and sleep less.

Take a bite not a chunk, you’ll choke

Everything takes time, especially change. What a change this one is. You possibly can not expect to make such a change in a day, you can not skip from 8 hours a night to 3 hours in one day. It is possible, yes, but do not be too hard on yourself. Take your time, this is a huge change that could possibly change your life as well. For the better that is.

As I’ve said, sleep is like a habit and in order to break a habit you could either do it one step at a time or just break it at one go. Take smoking for instance, if you usually smoke 5 cigarettes and want to quit smoking, you could start by smoking only 4 cigarettes a day, do that for a week, then the next smoke only 3 cigarettes a week, so forth. You could also just make the decision to quit smoking and do it instantly, no ”one step at a time” process. A lot of people have quit smoking using both formulas. The problem with quitting at one go is that sometimes it does not work out. Once that happens people stop trying to quit and continue smoking with the mentality that when they try to quit they fail. Instead, they could just go for the other method, taking things one step at a time. It has more chances of success than the other one.

How to sleep less and rest more

Everything on this earth requires knowledge in order to do well, that is the humbling truth. One should always be willing to learn. Some people know more about certain things than other people, and they provide that knowledge for other people to consume. What is more impressive than what you know is how much you are willing to learn, what is even more impressive is how much of that knowledge you are willing to teach. Even the smallest things require a lot of knowledge, how to speak well, how to walk like a proper lady, how to build a strong relationship, how to think faster, everything.

This is also the case with sleeping less and resting more, there is some knowledge we have to learn and guidelines we have to adhere to. Let’s dive in.

1.Be comfortable when you sleep

This is the first important thing one has to take care of in order to get some quality sleep. The more comfortable you are, the greater the quality of your rest. This does not only apply to sleeping, anytime a person needs to rest after a hard task or long day, they need to sit or lay down comfortably in order to get some rest. Do whatever it takes to get yourself comfortable before you sleep. Most people just throw themselves in bed, without any preparation. Imagine jumping into bed with a pair of skinny jeans and a very tight leather jacket, you would not be comfortable at all. That is why we have pajamas, to make us comfortable enough to get some quality sleep.

Being comfortable helps a lot, it prevents you from tossing and turning the whole night or waking up multiple times during your sleep which will disturb the whole resting process. Also prevents the feeling of being tired as soon as you wake up, like you were busy jogging instead of sleeping.

2. Meditate and visualize

Comfort does not only have to be physical, mental comfort is a thing as well. Actually, mental comfort is more important than the physical one, and is also essential for sleeping less and resting more. What is more suitable for relaxing the mind than meditation and visualization?

When you meditate you put your mind in a state of comfort, peace and relaxation. It sometimes feels like the steam room for the mind, you can feel the stress and negativity just sweating away. To make it even better, you visualize. You imagine your ideal lifestyle, you picture it vividly and see yourself living that life. You visualize all your dreams becoming a reality, your ideas and plans coming to fruition and your goals being reached. Do this before you sleep and you are guaranteed a pleasant rest.

3. Reflect on the day and plan the next

A lot can happen in a day, a lot, of course depending on where you went, what you did, who you met and how you went through it. Hence, there is a lot to get out of the day, a lot to learn. Make some time before you sleep to reflect on the day and to appreciate the knowledge you have acquired throughout the day.

This will definitely enlighten your mood as you will realize you have actually grown since the previous day. Knowledge is a big part of growth, nothing can replace it. When you go to sleep in the kind of mood you will definitely be more relaxed and rest better.

You should also make some time to plan the day ahead. Do this without getting into details though, just outline a few important and fun things then leave it at that, the rest is done in the mornings. You plan your next day in order to get you hyped up and excited about the day ahead. This will help you rest and more importantly help you sleep less. Remember back in school when you would have trips? On the previous day you could not wait for the sun to set and rise again. At night you could not sleep, you would struggle to fall asleep and when you eventually do you would wake up an hour later. You would sleep at 23:00, wake up at 00:10, then stay awake for a while and sleep again at 00:40 and wake up at 02:00, then do it over and over again. Because you were so excited for the next day, you were not as sleepy as usual, that is what you need in order to cut off some sleep. You need to be excited about the next day.

4. Don’t sleep when it’s time to sleep, sleep when it’s time to rest

What? Yes, you heard me right. In order to enjoy sleep and get some quality rest, you should sleep after you have earned that sleeping time. You should always ensure that you do your best during the day, live through the day in the best way you possibly can. Do the most you possibly can, do everything to the best of your abilities. When you live like this you are bound to be exhausted either at the end of the day or after completing an important task. When resting at this time, it definitely is of the highest quality. This is because you are taking some well deserved rest. So never go to sleep unless you feel that you really need to or deserve to. Get yourself exhausted first before calling it a day and taking off to dreamland.

This does not have to be at night, anytime during the day. People who sleep less have mastered the art of dividing their sleeping sessions. A person might sleep 5 hours a day, but you would find that the person only sleeps 2hours at night. The remaining 3 hours he/she uses them to sleep during the day when feeling exhausted. Believe it or not, this particular person gets more rest in a day than the average Joe who sleeps 8 hours a night only because it is what society taught him to do.

5. Have some fun

One of the best ways to ensure that your rest is quality rest is to have some fun just moments before resting. A friend of mine who runs a huge company always takes one very essential gadget to the office with him, actually everywhere he goes. The gadget? A joystick. He loves video games and says he can never jump on to another task after completing the other without first playing some video games. He enjoys them more than anything. That is what we should all do, well not play video games specifically, but engage in a very fun activity every now and then, and more importantly before we rest. Maybe when you get home from a long day at work, hop on those joysticks.

You will sleep a very happy person, snuggling with teddies and smiling in your sleep like a kid again. There is nothing wrong with that though, haha until your wife takes pictures and shows your neighbors and friends. Fun is a priority and should be everyone’s guilty pleasure.

6. Avoid distractions

Pretty obvious, right? Since you will be sleeping less hours than you usually do, you want to make sure that it counts. Every single moment should be a dose of rest. If you are resting at the office, make sure you lock the door and notify your PA to not let anyone through to the office. When at home you must also do the same, tell your family to not disturb you while you sleep, not even if the house is on fire, you should also turn off your phone to avoid calls from waking you up.

There are other silly distributions that we could avoid, like peeing, make sure you pee before sleeping or else you will wake up 30 minutes later to pee and it might be difficult to get back into your resting session.

7. Don’t rest on an empty stomach

Health is a very important part of resting. We rest mainly for our health’s sake. One of the best and important ways to remain healthy is by making sure that you eat healthy food. It is very hard to try and get anything done on an empty stomach, any kid who lives in poverty and still excels in education is my hero. It is very hard, some of us have been there. It is the same thing with resting, you have to be full when you rest.

Most people after eating, get a feeling of satisfaction and slight laziness as well which requires them to relax for a few minutes after eating. So what better time to rest than this? If you rest on an empty stomach you are probably not gonna rest well.

Do not jeopardize your progress in life, but also, do not jeopardize your health. Find a balance that is well suitable for you. Everyone knows themselves and understands what is best for them. If you do not, study yourself and find out. Go make some impressive progress and get some quality rest.

Get My New Book Available Now On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3e4DnoL