The businessman’s sleep: can you get six hours of sleep??

“The whole day is planned on minutes: negotiations, business trips, phone calls, letters… How do you manage to do everything?? And why there are only 24 hours in a day? Not only that, but eight more of them are taken out for sleep, leaving nothing at all. Well, no, only lazy people can afford it! I have a business, commitments, responsibilities. Who Else But Me? Not to rest!”♪ Recognize yourself ♪? Let’s explore with celebrities: is it possible to get enough sleep in a few hours, or should we reconsider our position??

Yes, you probably expect the traditional argument that all the great men slept little: Napoleon and Margaret Thatcher had four hours of sleep, Leonardo da Vinci had only two hours of sleep six times 20 minutes each. Allegedly this is the secret of their success. Here’s just one significant problem. Scientists say that for the reduced need for sleep is responsible specific gene, it has an extremely small number of people and has nothing to do with genius. In other cases, chronic stress and sleep disorders hide under the guise of electability. And by the way, don’t forget that among successful people there are equally many Napoleons as well as Groundhogs. For example, Albert Einstein slept up to 10-12 hours, and that didn’t stop him from making outstanding discoveries.

Well, in order not to digress from today, we asked three famous contemporaries how much time they spend on sleep.

Irina Hakamada, politician, publicist, business coach: “I sleep seven or eight hours. Enough.”.

Alexander Larianovsky, founder of the online English school Skyeng: “I try to sleep at least seven hours, the optimum is eight.”.

Oleg Kireev, jazz musician, composer, producer: “Alas, often fruitful times come at night, and I don’t always get eight hours of sleep.”.

How sleep works?

In the classic version, it consists of four to five cycles, which include phases and stages. The first phase, slow-wave sleep, has three stages: two for superficial sleep and one for deep sleep. In the last phase, the heart rate decreases and important hormones are released. Then comes the phase of rapid sleep with vivid dreams, breathing and heartbeat become more frequent, there is a complete relaxation of the muscles. This concludes the first cycle of about 90 minutes, and a new one begins. It is this time at the junction is best suited for an easy awakening.

To reduce the duration and productivity of sleep there is a technique of polyphasic sleep. There are a lot of variations: for example, either half an hour every six hours, or five hours at night plus an hour and a half in the afternoon. And although practitioners of such a regimen claim that their performance has greatly improved and they have more time for business, somnologists categorically do not recommend it. A long night’s sleep between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. is considered healthy, as before.

What are the dangers of chronic sleep deprivation?

Lack of sleep significantly increases the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and a host of other serious illnesses, as well as becoming a “happy” owner of chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and extra centimeters on the waist. And that’s because it is at night that the most important hormones are produced, which are responsible for tissue repair, metabolism, mood and appetite.

How to increase your productivity and reduce fatigue during the day?

Since we mentioned that busy people reduce their sleep due to congestion, let’s talk about how to increase productivity. Productivity and motivation experts David Allen and Tony Schwartz in their article “How to manage more” using two businessmen as examples, have demonstrated how to get more work done in fewer hours. Both were given the same tasks and work schedule of 9:00 to 7:00 p.m.

The first rested only once during dinner about 20 minutes . The second had lunch for 40 minutes, then slept for 15 minutes, took several short breaks during the day, went out for a short walk around 5 p.m. As a result, the first one was exhausted by 16:00, and the second one managed to do much more, although he had worked two hours less. This is roughly what the mechanism of energy recovery during the day looks like, so that later you don’t have to waste your personal time on hang-ups.

Irina Hakamada: “I plan my day by interspersing work with rest, even if it’s short.”.

Alexander Larianovsky: “Productivity depends not only on sleep, but also on how one knows how to “recharge the battery” during the day. I’ve learned to answer the questions: “How can I rest if I have a minute? but five minutes? and 20?””

Oleg Kireev: “There are people who always sleep during the day. I think this is one of the right ways to improve sleep efficiency.”.

Speaking of daytime sleep. Somnologist Roman Buzunov believes that you can restore strength literally 20-30 minutes. During this time you will not have time to fall into a deep sleep, so you will easily wake up. To make waking up easier it is recommended to drink coffee, strong tea or a cola before falling asleep – the caffeine starts to work in just 20 minutes.

Ten tips for getting a good night’s sleep

1. Learn to manage your fatigue. Being able to transform emotional fatigue into physical fatigue is very important for quality sleep. The best way is physical activity about an hour and a half a day , because stress hormones are destroyed by muscle work. So, instead of sitting late at work, exercise regularly at the gym, or at least walk home from work. True, there is one nuance – finish your sporting activities at least three hours before bedtime, otherwise you’ll have a hard time falling asleep.

2. Don’t drag work to bed. Roman Buzunov advises to give up the habit of browsing email or making calls an hour before bedtime. If work and ideas do not let go, try to negotiate with them. If you’re worried about unfinished business, transfer your problems to paper and write down a couple of solutions, then lie down right away.

Alexander Larianovsky:

“I have a way to turn off the intrusive thoughts that creep into my head when trying to sleep. As soon as something like that happens, I tell myself, ‘I’ll definitely think about it, I’ll definitely think about it, I’ll definitely think about it…”And the thought goes away.”.

3. Make up a ritual for falling asleep. It can be simple and enjoyable for you personally.

You can adopt one of the yogic techniques to combat insomnia, it will help you recharge and achieve peacefulness. Take a lotus pose, you can sit in bed. Straighten your back, close your eyes, and let your breathing be calm and deep. Try to look at your thoughts and feelings from the outside, without letting them pass you by.

After this relaxing exercise, recall the events of the day, give them an estimate. If it seems to you that somewhere you were wrong, mentally ask for forgiveness if someone else is wrong – forgive him, thank the universe for the lessons taught. If you’re not a yoga follower, there are a lot of other meditative techniques available, find one that’s closer to you.

Irina Hakamada:

“My bedtime ritual is a bath, a movie, or a bedtime book.

4. Don’t eat too much for the night. Give preference to a light dinner at least four hours before bedtime. In the evening, refrain from alcohol, coffee, chocolate, carbonated and energetic drinks. Better drink a soothing herbal tea.

5. Be meticulous in the arrangement of your bedroom. Ventilate the room before going to bed, protect it from light and noise, and ensure a comfortable temperature of around 18-21°C. The width of the bed for two should ideally be at least 180 cm. Get rid of feather pillows and blankets, they eventually become a breeding ground for germs.

Prefer memory foam pillows and high-quality dark linens. Replace the mattress with a modern one. For example, a mattress with Belgian Octaspring foam springs, through the 3D effect of the springs of different stiffness, adapts to the natural curves of the body and its movements, completely relaxes the muscles. It increases the duration of the deep sleep phase and helps the body recover in a shorter period of time.

6. Turn off your smartphone, TV and computer an hour before you go to sleep – bright screens keep your nervous system awake. But there are exceptions to every rule.

Oleg Kireev:

“I, like many people, am a victim of information flow and fall asleep with the news from the Internet”.

7. Calculate the number of hours you personally need. You can do this by experience: for two weeks, get up at the same time and go to bed when you feel sleepy. Gradually you’ll work out your optimal regimen.

8. Go to bed at the same time to make it easier to fall asleep.

9. Take the “90 minute rule” into consideration. Since, as we said above, the cycles repeat every hour and a half, calculate what time you should go to bed in order to get up at a certain time. For example, if you wake up at 0600, count backwards four or five cycles. The best time to go to bed is 10:30 p.m.

10. Use specialized mobile apps and gadgets. They help you to identify factors that interfere with quality sleep, wake up comfortably and even get rid of snoring.

Alexander Larianovsky:

“About five years ago I started measuring sleep quality with apps. Calculated the optimal time for me to go to bed, and began to methodically study the factors that affect sleep quality. The result was to raise the average from 60% to 90%.

So, we talked about how to learn how to get enough sleep and plan your work day. Of course, everything is very individual, and we drew in a sense an ideal picture – because of emergency situations no one is immune. But work is not life after all! And your loved ones not only want to see a successful, but also a healthy and happy person. New business wins and peaceful