Snooze it or Lose it. How You Can Be More Effective Every Day.

When my Dad and then my Mom became seriously ill, I started sleeping with my cell phone near me. I was concerned about hospital emergency calls or one of my siblings. It’s been 18 months since my Mom passed away and I still have that damn phone near me when I sleep!

Recently, I tried an experiment by leaving my phone in another room. At first, it seemed so strange not to have it nearby. However, according to my Apple Watch, I had one of my best nights of sleep!

We have all heard of the importance of a good night’s sleep. The more refreshed you are, the more successful your day will go.

Why do we need to sleep?

• It helps build up our immune system (that’s pretty important during Covid time!)

• It regulates our body weight (allows us to make better food choices instead of listening to food cravings)

• It helps us remember what we learned during the day

• It cleans out debris from our brain

What happens when we don’t get enough sleep?

• We get irritable

• We suffer from exhaustion

• Our mood fluctuates

• We experience depression

Here’s how it affects you at work and your executive functions:

• Reduced ability to concentrate and attention to detail

• Decreased memory capacity and recall

• Difficulty making decisions

• Trouble multi-tasking (if you’ve seen my previous material, you shouldn’t be multi-tasking!)

• Reduced productivity and creativity

These are challenging times and getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult.

Here are a few suggestions if you struggle to fall asleep:

• Have a set bedtime schedule (set the alarm to remind you when to go to bed)

• Leave your cell phone in another room

• Sleep in a dark, cool room (cold is better than warm)

• Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco before bedtime

• Face digital lights away from the bed

• Listen or watch something relaxing before bed

• Take a shower before bed to relax your body

• Keep technology out of the bedroom (tv, phone, iPads, etc.)

Here’s bonus information for you.

Many people have a “monkey mind” when they try to fall asleep. They worry and think about everything. Instead of being relaxed, you can easily be too wired to sleep. Here are two suggestions.

1. Have a notepad and pen near your bed. Write your thoughts down to get them out of your head. It’s incredible how well that works.

2. Try the “cognitive shuffle.” If you’ve got an active mind, instead of worrying about everything, have your mind focus on something else. For example, pick a word and picture other words that begin with that letter. If you choose “sleep,” you can picture “strawberries” and “sailboats” and “sunshine” and so on. As you can only think about one thing at a time, that will allow your brain to relax while you’re focusing on this silly word game, and before you know it, you’ll be asleep.

A good night’s sleep is one of the best keys to success. Let me know which of these you try tonight.

I’m here to help you survive and thrive during this challenging time. Set up a time to learn more about my coaching services by clicking here.

Be Brilliant,

Kate Beeders

P.S. Once you’re grounded, you’ll feel more confident, focused, creative, productive, and clear. Schedule a time to learn more about my coaching services and workshops.

P.P.S. Have you checked out all of the FREE RESOURCES available for you? There are meditations, tapping videos, trainings and much more!

P.P.P.S. A portion of my profits is going to animal advocacy. If you’re a dog lover, please check out The Forever Cali Project. There are lots of great, free resources for you!