Picture this: You put your cellphone on your charger at night. The next morning your alarm goes off, you reach over to grab your phone only to realize that you didn’t plug it in all the way and now your phone is at half a charge. You’ve got a full day of work ahead of you. You’re not sure if or when you’ll have time to plug your phone in to recharge it, and now you’re wondering if it will even be able to make it through the day and accomplish everything you need it to.
Sleep is a lot like charging your cell phone. If you don’t allow your phone (aka yourself) to recharge at night, you’ll find yourself running on empty and not performing at peak mental performance. Let’s take a deeper dive into why sleep is so important for your mental performance.
Quantity does not Equal Quality
Have you ever got 8 to 10 hours of sleep at night and still felt completely exhausted? Or maybe you fell asleep for a few hours and now you can’t fall back to sleep so now you’re up. These are pretty common problems for a lot of people. However, the problem isn’t how many hours of sleep you are able to get. What really matters is the quality of sleep.
If you don’t plug your phone in all the way, you’re not getting a good charge. Sleep is no different. If you’re not allowing yourself to get good quality sleep, then your brain is not recharging properly and therefore not working at full capacity.
Make the mental switch to focus on the quality of your sleep instead of obsessing over how many hours you were able to get. Once you start focusing on quality over quantity, your performance mentally and physically should improve.
Lack of Quality Sleep Causes Problems
So, what happens to you when you don’t take the time to get quality sleep? Lack of sleep can cause the following issues:
- Lack of energy and motivation
- Memory Problems
- Attention Issues
- Mood Disturbances
- Impaired Mental Performance
Sleep impacts everything we do. If we’re walking around half-charged then you can’t expect your performance to be top-notch.
Create Good Habits for a Quality Sleep Routine
The best way you can avoid lack of sleep problems and get quality sleep every night is to work on creating a sleeping routine. Whether this means you drink hot tea every night before you go to bed or read a couple of chapters from a good book, everyone has a special formula that is the key to your sleep. Find your key ingredients to quality sleep and work on making it a nightly routine.
Also, learn to be patient when finding your quality sleep routine. What works one night might not work the other. Just keep trying to find that special formula that helps your mind relax and before you know it, you’ll have quality sleep every night.
So, if you’re looking to be more productive, alert, energized, refreshed, and perform at your top mental performance, then focus on getting good quality sleep every night to help recharge your mind. Good luck and sweet dreams!
