Being a young professional can be stressful. Juggling a demanding job, side hustles, and keeping up with relationships can take a toll on your physical and mental well-being. While it might seem like the solution is to work longer hours, the truth is that one of the most important things you can do to stay productive and healthy is get quality sleep. Let’s dive into how we can achieve this.
- How much sleep do we need?
It’s been shown that adults should get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night for optimal health and productivity. While this amount of time might sound daunting when balancing all your life commitments, getting the right number of hours in bed doesn’t just mean sleeping through those hours. The key here is achieving quality sleep —which means making sure your body gets enough restorative deep sleep cycles throughout the night. This type of sleep helps regulate hormones while helping us process information better during our waking hours.
- Creating a bedtime routine
A great way to ensure that you’re getting quality rest is by giving yourself a consistent bedtime routine before you go to sleep each night—just like when you were a kid! It could look like setting aside an hour before bed each day where you spend 30 minutes winding down with some low-key activities such as taking a hot salt bath or reading a book then another 30 minutes powering down digital devices like phones and laptops so that their bright screens don’t interfere with your body's natural production of melatonin (the hormone responsible for making us sleepy). Also make sure to keep your bedroom temperature cool, dark and clutter-free to create an ideal environment for restful slumber.
- Reaping the benefits
When done correctly, creating a routine around your sleeping pattern will help improve your physical and mental wellbeing in countless ways. Aside from having more energy throughout the day, getting enough quality rest helps boost creativity, reduce stress levels, strengthen memory formation and even boosts our immune system—allowing us to stay productive while avoiding getting sick! It also supports our metabolism which in turn helps manage weight gain or loss depending on individual goals.
All in all, it's clear that giving yourself adequate amount of quality rest can help unlock potential both professionally and personally. It might take some trial and error but once you find what works best for you, it will be worth it! As young professionals juggling many roles in life, taking care of our bodies should always be at the top of our priority list—and good sleep habits are essential for doing just that!
