Sleep, is it overated????

Every time I go to work, I have the same routine. Getting into my car, I put all my bags and food in the back seat, I then get in the driver’s side. I plug my phone in to charge and then I put on some podcasts,currently, i am listening to Tim Ferris and Shredded by Science Radio. Then I head to get coffee on the way to the gym.

Routine is Key
This routine never changes regardless if I am in morning or evening classes.

Of late all I seem to be feeling is complete and utter tiredness. I recently acquired a Fitbit and constantly check how many hours I sleep each night. On the morning classes that start at 6.15am, I only sleep 5-6 hours and every other night I tend to only get 7ish hours.

In the last week, I have changed my evening and night time routine in order to become more efficient. It’s something that I have heard works for successful guests on the Tim Ferriss podcast,  Jamie Fox and Jocko Willink to name a couple. So I try to implement it into my life in order to make it more productive. Now I am not saying I am anyway successful because that’s  just a downright stupid thing to say, but maybe with some of these tips and tricks from the TFP, I can get better each day.

The hustlegrindkill phenomenon
Anyho for most people in the Irish fitness scene who follow youtubers or fitness models with an online business, they constantly see the hastag Hustle grind kill, everywhere. These are people that seem to work only a few hours each day and yet are hustling hard in business, making truckloads of money and living the life. They let on to all their social media following that they are making it large.On top of that, they seem to be able to regularly function off 3-4 hours of sleep a night and still be successful.

Unfortunately, this is not the case, some do have successful businesses but mostly that is only a small percentage. Most work like dogs, working 15 hours days consistently and don’t make as much money as they let on. They probably are sleeping 3-4 hours a night primarily because they have to get back up and do another 15 hour day in order to make a living.This is something that will make them unsuccessful in the long run.

Sleep is one of the most vital aspects a human being needs in order to function while it’s also extremely important too in the health and fitness realm for building muscle and losing fat. I struggle with getting enough sleep and sometimes it does affect the way that I interpret things personally and professionally.

What to do about it 
Here are three things that I have found useful in my own routine when trying to get some optimal sleep each night.

1. Get rid of your phone – one of the main reasons why you lie awake at night is the blue light coming from your phone. Most phones now have the capacity to change color, so you might as well take advantage of that by letting them automatically change your screen to a warmer / orange tone. In addition, by getting rid of your phone means you’re less likely to get wound up scrolling thru Instagram just before bed, which means you can chill out and relax.
2. Try to keep your bedroom as dark as possible. Ikea sells some great easy to install blackout blinds, cheap. Keep your bedroom as cool and uncluttered as possible.
3. Keep track of your sleep. My Fitbit has made this really easy for me, but if you don’t have one – you can use a good old-fashioned diary. Write down when you went to bed, when you get up, and how you slept. This will allow you to analyze you’re tried and will let you know when you need to catch up on sleep later in the week.

Sleep is one the keys to leading a successful life. Not telling everybody that your hustle and grinding each day.

So don’t be influenced by your favorite social media youtuber or fitness model, they are spinning you a web that is bound to make you extremely unhappy and more than likely sleep deprived.

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