I love making money. But, like me, have you found that being your own boss often means not keeping normal office hours? Especially when you love what you are doing, it’s easy to find yourself working late into the night and sleeping with your iPhone on the nightstand – you know, just in case you get an important email or text.
But working so late, getting up early, always having technology just an arm’s reach away – all of the above can star to affect our sleep, which can have serious effects on our health in the long run. An interesting article posted to entrepreneur.com talked about the need to get more sleep. For most of us, point number 4 probably hits close to home:
4. Give yourself an electronics buffer…Electronics that emit light can stimulate your body in a way that makes it difficult to unwind for sleep. Cut your electronics use within thirty to sixty minutes of bed to wind down properly for sleep. “Falling asleep isn't like flicking a switch. We take time to wind down at night. If we've got bright light conditions, we're not giving ourselves a chance to get off to sleep and stay asleep,” Allison Harvey, a sleep specialist and psychology professor at UC Berkeley told US News.
While individual sensitivity to light varies by person, you may want to consider an electronics curfew for yourself to unwind and prepare your body for sleep by reducing your exposure to the light of your electronics.
Making money for yourself – and getting away from what I call the Hamster Wheel of Hell – is a whole lot of fun. But like anything in life, work has its place. And here’s a hint – the bed is for sleeping, not for conducting business (unless your business is selling mattresses, I suppose).
Get your sleep. Be more productive. Make more money.