Three Tips to Get Enough Quality Sleep

This article was originally written on my blog -  read it here!

Being a business leader means needing to be productive and being productive means that you need to make sure you’re getting enough sleep. I’m sure you’ve struggled in the past with getting a full night’s sleep. And even if you think you’re getting a full night’s sleep, your brain might still be switched on.

That leaves you in a bit of a predicament…because you aren’t really getting the ‘quality’ sleep you need as a business leader.

In an ideal world, you want to lie in your bed and instantly be able to drift off into a deep and peaceful sleep. Dreaming beautiful dreams – uninterrupted – sleeping like a princess.

And when you wake in the morning around 6-7am depending what time you’re supposed to arise, you wake up feeling fully energised and you know everything is going to be fine because you’ve had such a great night’s sleep.

If you’re reading this, you probably haven’t had a night’s sleep like that in a long time!

But it’s not impossible to change. Let me share three tips I use to make sure I’m getting enough sleep and how you can too.

Firstly, most people struggle to get to bed on time. There’s always ‘something else’ to do. Whether it’s cleaning the house or speaking with clients – it all acts like a distraction, pulling you away even longer from your comfy bed.

My advice would be to set specific times that you are not available for contact with anything regarding work. Not only that, but you set a time that you must be in bed by. This is great for forming habits.

So now you’re in bed, but a lot of business leaders find it hard to fully relax which pulls them further away from drifting off into that deep, peaceful sleep.

Not being able to relax is something I can relate to! There was a time when I was working full time as a doctor and had 3 kids to look after too! My brain was working overdrive and even if I did manage to get to sleep, it wouldn’t be long before I was woken up again by my kids. My sleep was broken and I would always wake in the morning ever so tired. And this is where I realised I couldn’t carry on living like this and needed to find a solution.

Yes…I found many quick fixes like sleeping tablets and eye masks but nothing that fixed the problem permanently. It didn’t take me long, as a doctor to realise there’s no such thing as a quick fix. Things like sleeping pills don’t cut it – I’d never advise anyone to take them unless for medical reasons.

So what did I realise?

I discovered that I had to look at the bigger picture. The whole situation from a 30,000 foot view. I had to begin prioritising my sleep and set specific times between which I would sleep.

I made my bedroom a sleeping only room. Everything other than the bed and a wardrobe was thrown out and stored somewhere else in our home. All the technical devices like my phone and computer were moved out to minimise disturbances.

Summary

• Prioritise your sleeping times – no exceptions!
• Make your bedroom disturbance free – a sleeping only room!.
• Remove all those technical electronic devices that are keeping you awake all night long.

If you’d like more free tips like these, visit my website by clicking the link below to get more resources to help you become an even more successful, stress free business leader.

LINK HERE

Feel free to share this article with anyone you know who would benefit from reading today’s message.

To your success and keep smiling!

Dr Annika