Why it is important for startup founders to get enough sleep?
You could be putting yourself and your startup up for failure because of sleep!
We’ve all been there — you’re working on an idea, and you just can’t seem to get it right. You lose sleep over it, and end up talking to yourself out loud while you work. And then you get a few minutes of sleep, and then more ideas come to you while you’re sleeping.
The problem is that after a few hours of this (or maybe even days), the body starts to forget what it had done earlier, so you end up starting over from scratch again.
It’s no wonder that most entrepreneurs are overwhelmed, can’t focus on one thing for more than a few minutes, and lose sleep over their work.
Sleep is a big part of the human experience. It’s like the small things that don’t really matter, but feel like they do, and why we all seem to have a second wind during the night.
What is the importance of sleep?
Sleep is important because it helps us grow stronger, both physically and in our mental capacities. The brain is more active at night than in the day. After spending a lot of time indoors, it’s important to get out for some fresh air.
In addition, sleep also helps us make use of our memory. It makes the brain work more efficiently, and allows us to learn new things more easily because we have more energy during the day.
The importance of sleep is so great that when we don’t get enough of it, we start to lose our memories. This is actually a well-known problem, and it can quickly lead to forgetfulness, which in turn affects our ability to learn new things and makes it harder for us to focus.
How sleep affects our health?
As we all know, even a small amount of sleep is important for our bodies. Without getting enough sleep, we can experience problems such as:
lack of energy/tiredness;
poor mental performance (focusing);
sleeping too much (too little); and/or, too little sleep causing problems such as:
headaches;
anxiety (fear); and/or,
depression.
What happens to us when we don’t get enough sleep?
We use less brainpower, and the result is that we can no longer think clearly. We lose our memory. This can cause problems in different areas of life, from work to relationships to hobbies. In addition, lack of sleep has been linked to some mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Therefore, it’s important to get enough sleep.
How much sleep are we supposed to have?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need seven to nine hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. On average, men need more sleep than women because men tend to have bigger bodies. This means that if you’re a man, you need more sleep than a woman because your body requires more energy throughout the day.
However, if you’re used to sleeping less than 7–9 hours, you need to change your sleeping habits. This is because our bodies think it’s time for sleep when it’s actually time to wake up — we have to trick the body into thinking we’re awake so that it doesn’t go into a deep sleep.
Why it’s extremely important for startup founders to get enough sleep?
Startup founders are constantly put into highly stressful and anxiety-inducing situations that can make it hard to focus on what’s important. This is because they need to stay focused on their goal and not get distracted by other projects.
But, the truth is that founders should be able to focus all the time because they’re constantly thinking about how they can work harder and grow their businesses to become more successful. Without this ability to focus, these entrepreneurs will do everything in their power to continue growing their business but will find it very hard if they don’t get enough sleep.
This means that founders should make sure they get enough sleep and eat well to stay as healthy as possible. This will mean they’ll be able to focus, because their energy levels will be higher and they won’t feel sleepy.
How can I squeeze in enough rest as a startup founder with a busy schedule?
If you are still reading, you are likely someone with more things to do that is humanly possible in any given day. This means that you simply need to have a plan for when you need to sleep, and how much.
For example, in the evening, try to stop working and start relaxing. Take out your phone so you don’t keep thinking about work, and relax with a nice book or something else. Some people like to get into bed at the same time every night — for others it’s better to take naps throughout the day instead of having one big sleeping session.
In addition, try to get up at the same time every morning, as this will help you start your day on a positive note, and will also make sure you get enough sleep.
How can I increase the amount of sleep that I need?
While it’s very important to get enough sleep, there are some things you can do to increase how much sleep you need. These include:
Staying in a dark room as much as possible;
Using an alarm clock or a sleep monitor that will wake you up when you need to be awake; and/or,
Taking naps during the day.
Conclusion:
Sleep is a vitally important part of the human experience because it’s involved in so many different things. These include mental health, physical health and memory. Getting enough sleep is vital for all of these things, and there are ways you can increase the amount of sleep you need.
If you’re a startup founder, then you should make sure you get enough rest and eat well so that you can focus on your work at all times. This will help make your time working on your startup a lot more productive, and will allow you to concentrate on the things that are important for your business.
About the Author
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies (www.cudy.co), a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces, and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
You can connect with me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlhk) and let me know that you are a reader of my Medium posts in your invitation message.
