The key to becoming a more energetic person is not what you think. It’s not eating a balanced diet and staying away from sugary snacks. It’s also not getting regular exercise.
Sure, those things matter.
But what’s most important is how you time your sleep; If you want to feel more energetic, you’ll want to time exactly when you go to bed and when you wake up.
Get Enough Sleep And You’ll Become an Energetic Person
There’s a plethora of research that supports the benefits of getting enough rest. It’s linked with …
- Better focus, attention, and vigilance 1
- Increased reaction times 2
- Lower risk of errors and omissions 3
- Less irritability, anger, and stress 4
Getting plenty of sleep also leads to higher energy levels, a factor that plays an important role in the workplace and in business. You perform well if you have high energy and poorly if you have little energy.
This doesn’t come as a surprise to the individual. What’s astonishing though, is that entire organizations are now accepting of this. Here’s how …
How Organizations Encourage You to Become a More Energetic Person
A survey by the National Sleep Foundation showed that 34% of all U.S. companies allow workday naps to help employees recharge. Included in this statistic are tech giants like Google and Meta—companies that run large scale operations and depend on their employees to be productive and make good decisions. 5
What’s more is that many companies are now also providing their employees with flexibility around their schedules so they can get more rest. Research by University of Minnesota shows that employees who are allowed to change their schedules and whereabouts based on their needs get almost an hour more sleep on nights before work.6
Sufficient rest turns average performers into high-energy professionals that outperform others. This is not just true in the corporate world, but also for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs.
So, what can you do about this? How exactly can you leverage the power of sleep to feel more energetic?
You’ll Feel Like a More Energetic Person When You Do This
When thinking about the sleep you need, it’s normal to focus on hours.
The optimal amount of sleep should be within the age-appropriate sleep duration recommended ranges. 7
Although there is no magical number for everybody, sleep recommendations in the USA suggest that you get no less than 7 hours of sleep if you’re older than 18 years.
While sleep duration is undoubtedly important, it’s not the only part of the equation, though.
There’s a little-known sleep strategy that can help even the highest performers reach new heights, and it has to do with timing your sleep cycles properly.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Sleep
Over the course of the night, your sleep is made up of several rounds of the sleep (usually somewhere between 4 to 6 rounds 8). On average, one cycle lasts approximately 90 minutes.
A New York Times bestseller and international sensation, this “stimulating and important book” (Financial Times) is a fascinating dive into the purpose and power of slumber.
Awakening during one of these cycles has been shown to result in negative mood and self-appraisal. 9 However, if you schedule your sleep and wake times to align with your cycles (i.e., wake up at the end of a cycle), you won’t feel groggy and tired in the morning.
Therefore, the key to feeling energized is to wake up after a full cycle has passed. The last time you felt like you had the “perfect sleep”, you probably woke up at the end of a 90-minute sleep cycle.
Here’s How You Can Take Advantage of Your Sleep Cycles
The best way to time your bed-time and wake-up times is with an app such as sleepyti.me. It helps you calculate your ideal wake-up time:
- If you have to wake up at 7:00 am, you should go to bed at 10:00 pm or 11:30 pm.
- If you have to wake up at 5:00 am, you should go to bed at 8:00 pm or 9:30 pm.
You can play around with this application to make it work for your schedule. It’s also important that you take into consideration how long it usually takes you to be asleep. On average, it takes people somewhere between 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep, although those times may be different for you.
Use this in combination with getting at least 7 hours of rest, and I have no doubt that you will feel more energetic throughout your day.
References
- Alhola, Paula, and Päivi Polo-Kantola. “Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance.” Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, vol. 3, no. 5, Oct. 2007, pp. 553-67.
- Bonnet, Michael H., and Donna L. Arand. “Clinical effects of sleep fragmentation versus sleep deprivation.” Sleep Medicine Reviews, vol. 7, no. 4, Aug. 2003, pp. 297-310, doi:10.1053/smrv.2001.0245.
- Lim, Julian, and David F. Dinges. “Sleep deprivation and vigilant attention.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2008, pp. 305-22, doi:10.1196/annals.1417.002.
- Saghir, Zahid, and Javeria N. Syeda. “The Amygdala, Sleep Debt, Sleep Deprivation, and the Emotion of Anger: A Possible Connection?” The Cureus Journal of Medical Science, vol. 10, no. 7, July 2018, doi:10.7759/cureus.2912, 10.1196/annals.1417.002.
- Salfi, Federico, and Marco Lauriola. “Effects of Total and Partial Sleep Deprivation on Reflection Impulsivity and Risk-Taking in Deliberative Decision-Making.” Nature and Science of Sleep, vol. 12, 2020, doi:10.2147/NSS.S250586.
- Moen, Phyllis, and Erin L. Kelly. “Changing Work, Changing Health: Can Real Work-Time Flexibility Promote Health Behaviors and Well-Being?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 52, no. 4, Dec. 2011, pp. 404-29, doi:10.1177/0022146511418979.
- Hirshkowitz, Max, and Kaitlyn Whiton. “National Sleep Foundation’s updated sleep duration recommendations: final report.” Hirshkowitz, vol. 1, no. 4, Dec. 2015, pp. 233-43, doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2015.10.004.
- Patel, Aakash K., and Vamsi Reddy. “Physiology, Sleep Stages.” National Library of Medicine: National Center for Biotechnology Information, edited by Aakash K. Patel and Vamsi Reddy, StatPearls Publishing, Jan. 2022.
- Wagner, Kelly. “Awakening During REM Sleep Results in Negative Mood and Self-Appraisal.” American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 10 June 2009.