Wake Up Call for the Sleep Deprived

A soldier who gets 7 hours of sleep can shoot with 98% accuracy. Just an hour less of sleep makes his accuracy drop to 50%. With 4 hours of sleep, his accuracy is 15%. Sleep is an essential element to help you succeed.

Sleep like a baby

When was it last that you slept like a baby? Or do you sleep like a baby who wakes up hour and cries?

Or like a Tiger?

Fun fact: babies and tigers sleep for 14 - 17 hours a day.

If you are neither a baby nor a tiger, then how many hours do you need to sleep? An adult needs between 8-10 hours of sleep - enough to wake up without an alarm.

The 996 work culture

Have you been impressed with people who boast that they need to sleep for only 3-4 hours a day? I know some leaders who get up in the middle of the night to respond to an email. They announce it like an achievement. That pressurises their team members to do the same. The media feeds us these stories. What they don't tell you is the price they pay for these punishing routines.

Many startups boast about their 996 culture. The founder gives his own example of working round the clock. What they do not tell you is the payout is sometimes 1000 times more than the employee who they are pushing to work those insane hours and toxic culture.

996 refers to the practice of working from 9am to 9pm for six days of the week. Jack Ma had said that while everyone has the right to choose their own lifestyle but those who work shorter hours "won't taste the happiness and rewards of hard work."<read more >

Shift working and travel across time zones can wreak havoc with your body and the sleep cycle. All the success that you wish for is meaningless if you cannot get a good night's sleep. The mental health issues arising out of the pandemic has been created because we have lost track of the time to start and finish the workday.

What lack of 8 hours of sleep does to you

From unexpected weight gain, headaches, troubled mental health, undersleeping and oversleeping can cause a host of problems. Suicide, depression and broken relations are common among people who are sleep deprived. Want to lose fat, get some exercise and sleep for 8 hours a day. Sleep acts as a dish washer for our brain at the end of a day.

Increased use of social media platforms, TV watching and use of computers are keeping people awake well into the night.?<read more >

"Sleep deprivation is one of the reasons behind the rising incidence of serious illnesses — diabetes, heart attack and cancer, among others — in young and middle-aged Indians. This is an age group whose sleep hours are often given over to late nights at work, binge watching on TV and smartphones." - Business Line

N1, N2, N3, N4 and REM stages of sleep

My grandma used to have the ability to sleep off during a conversation. If I stopped she would say, "I am listening to you," and would rattle off the last few sentences I had shared. She was in N1 stage of sleep. Then comes N2 stage of sleep. After which we may either experience REM (Rapid Eye Movement).

During REM sleep we generate insights and ideas. This is when we have dreams. Deep sleep which actually rejuvenates us is termed as N3 or N4. It begins after the N2 state is completed. This whole cycle lasts about 90 minutes. We need at least 5 cycles of 90 minutes each every night to stay sane.

Some tips to get better sleep

Keeping a snake plant in the bedroom can help improve your sleep quality <read more > Avoid looking at screen 45 minutes before your sleep time. Take a hot shower before you sleep. I spoke to the author of a recent book called Sleep Your Way To Success. There are some fabulous shared. <Watch it>

If you think someone will benefit from these tips, feel free to share this sketchnote with them.

If you have tips that help people get over insomnia, please share them in the comments. Do share this newsletter with your followers.

Thanks in advance

Abhijit Bhaduri