How To Accelerate Your Personal Success?!
It seems like time is always against you: there are never enough hours in the day, and it's hard to get everything done. But believe it or not, there is one small thing that you can do that will make a huge difference in how much you get accomplished over the course of your day!
If you want to achieve more success in your personal life — at home with family members, on your own time with hobbies or entertainment, or even professionally — try cutting down on how many hours of sleep you average per night. A study found that people who slept for 16 hours were at a clear disadvantage when compared to those who slept for just 8 hours.
It's not because of energy; it's not because of your health. It's because of something much more important: your brain is processing information differently, and you're performing worse. If you're in a leadership role, or if you have important decisions to make, this can make all the difference. Why would anyone want to perform at a lower level than necessary?!
Why Is Sleep Important?
Trying to stay awake for 16 hours is like trying to hold a gallon of water with two fingers — it can be done, but if you want to do it for long, you'll probably break something! (In this metaphor, the fingers are like your brain cells. Doing so would be like trying to do math tasks with a brain that's half-asleep.) When you're tired, in this analogy, the brain cannot maintain its full force because it can't carry out all of its operations at once.
But there is a way to balance your sleep schedule. It is simple: get more sleep. (So, take the nap. Seriously.) If you only sleep for 6 hours a night, it's not going to be easy. But if you can get an extra 2 hours every night, that's a total of three weeks of extra time (or one month if you only sleep 6 hours per night)!
The researchers in the study used "subjective sleepiness" as their main metric. Basically, this meant that they asked each person how tired they felt. This is a good way to measure tiredness, because most people will know when they're feeling tired. It's subjective in the sense that everyone is different; someone who normally sleeps for 8 hours may feel less sleepy than someone who sleeps for 12. But they all felt tired on the same level.
The researchers asked over 400 students in their mid-20s to "self-report" how tired they were just before going to sleep (they used the Self-Rating Sleepiness Scale — SSS). Then they checked whether people who reported being more sleepy also showed more mental fog.
And, sure enough, the people who slept for 8 hours were sharper and performed better than those who slept for 16 (or even 12). They significantly outperformed those who slept for longer.
This study did not just focus on mental performance; it also looked at physical performance. Again, the researchers used self-report of physical fatigue as a metric. They showed that in people who slept for 8 hours, there was still evidence of fatigue (an increase in perceived physical fatigue), but there was not nearly as robust as that of the 16-hour sleepers.
The reasons why are unclear. It could be that this extra sleep time is really important for cognitive function and performance, or it could be that those subjects were better at assessing their tiredness than other subjects. If you are feeling tired, it could be worth it to stay up a bit longer (within reason) and get that extra cognitive boost.
Ways That Sleep Affects Your Brain
There are a lot of ways that your brain changes when you're asleep — and even when you're awake. Consider these:
Growth Hormone—In young adults, increased slow-wave sleep was associated with increased levels of growth hormone. This is why athletes usually try to get a little more sleep after intense workouts. Their bodies are trying to recover!
Memory Consolidation—You can learn better if you are sleeping between training sessions. After learning something new, the connections between neurons become solidified.