Tips for maximizing sleep

byhugh9905

443 followers

7 years ago

If you have multiple roles in your life - working a job, taking care of kids and family members, and starting up your own business - you probably stretch yourself more and more over time. I am in the same situation. For a long time I tried to fight sleepiness by drinking coffee or just keep working. I know I can stretch myself even more but I also realized that stretching is not sustainable, because I am not working as efficiently as I should be able to. I have to find some solutions to work around and boost my efficiency in sleeping. Recently I found an article online and adopted some tips.

1. Plan backwards with 90-minute increment for your sleep. According to some sleep studies, sleep happens in roughly 90-minute long cycles. So the best way to achieve high efficiency is to follow the 90-minute cycles.

I have a swing shift job from 2:30 PM to 11 PM, and I have to wake up around 7:30 AM to take my older kid to school. In my case the most efficient way would be 6 hours. I notice that I still feel sleepy even if I sleep for 6 and a half hours, but I get half an hour for my housework or business if I only sleep for 6 hours.

2. Try to wake up naturally - start your day early if you wake up before your alarm goes off.

Well, in my case it rarely happens. But sometimes the kids wake me up before my alarm goes off, and I just get out of the bed and try to do something. Going back to sleep again (which means starting the sleep cycle again), especially when the alarm will go off within an hour, will not give me the efficiency or the energy that I need.

3. Take advantage of naps.

Taking naps is the most helpful tip for me. I still remember the days when my older kid was teething, she woke me up a couple times every night. I was working in morning shift and I was very sleepy at work. I took naps in my breaks, which charged me up and got me through those busy days. Now I have to take care of the 1-year-old at home in the morning, while doing some cooking/housework, and working on my business. I take naps when the little one is taking her 2-hour-long nap. I tried and found out 15 to 20 minutes short naps gave me almost the same amount of energy as the 1 hour long naps. So I decided to take short naps and squeeze more time for housework and business.

I also plan my activities before and after naps. I try to complete repetitive tasks before naps, like housework, cooking, checking emails, paying credit cards; and I leave the time right after naps for more important activities, such as writing blogs, completing training, and generating ideas. That way my brain works more efficiently right after naps, and I will be able to do more in the same amount of time.

I hope the tips can help those who struggle with different roles and time in their life. Thank you for reading.

Hugh