Never in your life, do you appreciate the value of sleep more than when you have a newborn baby. I haven’t had a straight night sleep for the last 14 weeks and I still wonder from time to time why I feel lethargic, unmotivated or why I can only see the glass half empty despite my normal positive outlook. The answer is so simple, I miss it every time: sleep! When you are recharged and rested, the world looks differently and what’s more you are able to make better decisions. There are millions of formulas to achieve more and better, but to improve your health and have success: get more sleep. Better still, really unwind prior to going to sleep by reading or perhaps lsitening to music and you will find that your sleep quality improves. It may seem that you are taking valuable hours out of your busy day, but instead you will improve your productivity immensely. Doing more is defintely not always better. Press that pause button, rest and see things with fresh eyes in the morning.
If -like me- you have a newborn to attend to then the only solution may be to go to bed a little earlier or simply catch some sleep whenever you can. If you have trouble sleeping, try stretching (yoga) or meditation before going to bed and play some relaxing music. Have some definite “switching off time” before you consider going to bed and make the place where you sleep a “a sanctuary”, a nice place away from clutter, work and commitments. People tend to show off about how little sleep they got to demonstrate how busy they are, but ultimately you will always be more productive, motivated and effective when you have had more sleep rather than less.
Have a look at the 4 minute talk of Arianna Huffington on www.ted.com which puts it in great perspective.
