Get Some Sleep...Succeed in Business

An interesting piece by Cathie Anderson in yesterday's Sacramento Bee.  At Perspectives 2012 last week, Anderson writes that media mogul Ariana Huffington told business leaders that if they want to succeed in business they need to get more sleep.  Sounds paradoxical, until you think about  research that directly links lack of sleep to health problems like weight gain, early diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other problems.

She also quotes Amer Khan, M.D., a neurologist who specializes in sleep medicine, as saying that the average American gets 6 1/2 hours of sleep every night, which is significantly less than in the early 1900s when the average was 9 hours per night. Dr. Khan's blog where he writes about sleep in a personal and practical way can be found here.

The problem with not getting enough sleep, as I can well attest from personal experience, is that it makes it harder to concentrate, harder to make decisions, and generally makes you crabby.  It also makes you more prone to stress, which can lead to the myriad of health problems just noted.

One of the best ways I know of to ensure a good night's sleep is to block out all sound and light, which for me means wearing a sleep mask and ear plugs.  There are many choices when it comes to sleep masks but the two I like best are the eye shades mask and the 40 blinks foam mask, both made by Seattle based Bucky.  The eye shades mask includes a pair of ear plugs.

So until next time, sweet dreams!!