Ants Don’t Sleep !!
Ants don’t sleep and that’s one of the reasons for their shorter life span. There are so many things that we humans can learn from ants: like their unity, selflessness, busy work and many more. But did you know they never sleep. The worker ants take 1 minute, hundreds of power naps, which may total upto to 4 to 5 hours in a day. On the other hand the queen ant takes twice the amount of sleep compared to the worker ants. She lives longer than the worker ants obviously. Sleep is essential and everybody knows that. However in this post you will learn about how deep sleep helps in sustained performance.
How many of us spend time in front of TV or with our mobile phones just before going to sleep? Several people I spoke to feel that the stress they have gone through the day is offset by the gadget time at night. Well, here is where we go wrong. What our minds do during sleep, is processing of data. Whatever we have seen, experienced or done during the day using the conscious mind is being processed by the subconscious mind at night and taken into long-term memory. This process needs time. Only if this process is handled well, will we be effective in our performance.
In olden days, people took a short 1 hour afternoon nap break from their work. This helped them give rest to their body and mind. It made them stronger and they had fewer health issues as well. I understand that taking a nap in the afternoons could be challenging in today’s world, but we are also not compensating for it by retiring early at night. The body and mind go through continuous pressure, keeping them below optimum when it comes to performance. I too have a problem with afternoon naps, but I do ensure I get to bed by 9.30 pm.
A power nap in-between stressful workday and a good quality and quantity of sleep at night, will enable a healthy and satisfactory life. Here are a few things that you can do before getting to bed at night:
- Eat dinner an hour before going to bed.
- Ensure you keep TV, tablet or mobile phones away at least an hour before sleep.
- Listen to some soothing music or indulge in some mindfulness activities like coloring or doodling or reading a book.
- Do a bit of breathing exercise to ensure good amount of oxygen is flowing inside the body before you get to bed.
- Calm down and do not spend time reconciling what happened during the day.
- Once you are in your bed, think of one goal that you so badly want to achieve.
- Imagine yourself achieving it and thank the universe and your sub-conscious mind for helping you achieve it.
- Go to sleep.
Within a month’s time of doing this, you will start to notice your efficiency levels going up. You will see the goals you had set will start coming through earlier than you thought off. You will feel more energetic and brisk. Overall you will feel more satisfied in life.
Live lifefully and enjoy a good sleep.