Do you get enough sleep? What would you suggest me? If you didn't get enough sleep in past, what was effects on your health?
1. Determine your "sweet spot" for hours slept. Mine is anywhere between 8.5 and 9.25 hours. Too much more and I'm groggy for the rest of the day, and much less won't allow me to perform at my best for that day.
2. Try to sleep and wake at the same time every day. Sleeping in on the weekends may feel good that day, but then Monday comes and waking up at normal time again feels like hell. If you keep you schedule constant, your body will optimize its different sleep cycles for the time it expects to get.
3. Try becoming an early riser. Humans are diurnal (!nocturnal) animals. This means that if you continue to sleep after sunrise, your body will want to wake up so you won't get as deep of a sleep.
4. If you have a super hectic schedule that doesn't allow a constant sleep schedule, try polyphasic sleep. I haven't tried it myself, but it may be worth a shot: http://www.dustincurtis.com/sleep.html
If you want to help keep your sleep schedule constant, here are some tips I've found helpful:
1. Avoid screens like a computer and TV an hour or less before bed. Try a book instead.
2. Avoid caffeine at least 3 hours before bed (probably obvious, but worth saying anyway)
3. Try chamomile tea to get to sleep quickly.
4. Artificial lighting sucks. Avoid it as much as possible. Open a window in the daytime and get to sleep earlier to avoid several hours of artificial light. You may save some $$$ on energy as a side effect.
5. To wake up quickly, go for a walk outside as soon as you wake up.
I hope some of these help.
It takes a little to get used to, but its completely awesome once you are using it. When you disable it during the night and see your monitor jump to a bright, blinding blue shade you realize how painful it is on your eyes.
It's a lot of work to get on a normal sleeping pattern but it can be done. I slept inconsistently for 15 years and, after ~1 year of reprogramming the habit, have been able to get consistently good sleep. The productivity boost has been phenomenal since then and it has been absolutely worthwhile.
My most important habits are:
1) Sleep when tired at night - sounds obvious but you'd be shocked at how often we fight it. Don't nap. Just get to the evening and sleep early if you need to.
2) Wake up and get out of bed at the same time everyday - get your body in a pattern. This is critical. If you consider staying in bed once you wake up, you will fall asleep and train yourself to roll around in the morning. If you force yourself up and start moving, you'll be wide awake in a few minutes. One week of this the habit will begin to form. Avoid alcohol and late nights to get this habit rolling.
3) Do the same thing every night before you sleep -condition your body to expect sleep. Reading fiction for 15 minutes has been a good tool for me (avoid tasks like checking email that keep your mind active, the whole point is to ease into sleep!)
Be wary of polyphasic sleep! I tried this and the first week resulted in massive sleep deprivation that took a heavy toll on productivity (serious IQ and attention span dip. zombies are stupid) and ended with a massive crash and hibernate period.
You're right to think about sleep. If you can get this down, you'll be much more productive. You might also need to lessen your big load of responsibilities or get help from someone else if the time demands are too high.
Best of luck. I'm rooting for you.
I'm a very regular sleeper and have been for about a decade (I'm now 41). Fixing sleeping routines I think is the most important part of that; getting a decent bedroom has also been important. Three most important things: no light, no noise, and good air. Move away from a noisy street; heavy blackout curtains over an open window will help with the rest. Blackout curtains seem to be less common in the States than in Europe: do track them down if you haven't got them.
Caffeine: I'm quite happy drinking tea as my bedtime drink. Coffe, though, keeps me awake. I have no idea why, since the caffeine levels are about the same. I try to minimise my coffee consumption over the week.
Artificial lighting is a good point, artificial heating and air circulation I also find to be bad for your body's self-regulation. Up to a point, I think these things matter more than diet. I like to work in a cold office with warm clothes.
Polyphasic sleep: It's interesting, but I think that Dustin Curtis only find it works better than normal sleep because he is unable to establish a routine that works for him. otherwise.
Over the past few years, I have done a ton of research on sleep, tried just about every over the counter and prescription medication, did a few sleep studies, and have tested different tons of sleep hygiene philosophies.
The key to me tuning my sleep has been by recording metrics of how I slept and looking for trends. I record when I sleep and wake, how hard it was to get to sleep and get up, my stress level and mood for the previous day, the medications and sleep-aid methods I am trying, the temperature, darkness, etc. Relying entirely on a subjective rating for sleep didn't work for me, so I use a fitbit to track how much I am moving during sleep, which can be correlated to how effective your sleep is.
In the last few months I have been able to not take any medication and maintain a regular(ish) sleeping schedule for the first time in probably 5 years.
Everyone has different methods that work for them so I will give you a few that work best for most without killing productivity: -Wake at the same time every morning, sleep when tired(If you don't fall asleep within 15 minutes, you aren't tired). -When waking, get as much light as you can. Watching the sunrise is both invigorating for your body and mind. -Exercise daily, even if its just taking a long walk. -2 hours before sleep avoid anything highly engaging such as media, games, and work(if you can manage). Try writing to empty your mind, or reading something that is not backlit. Dim the lights, stretch or do yoga, etc. -For those nights you can't stop working for those 2 hours, I use flux(mentioned below) and have found it to work well. -Don't try the polyphasic sleep except as a last resort. -Don't nap even for a few minutes. -Don't drink caffeine. ...the list goes on.
My biggest piece of advice is to systematically try different techniques and to record your results. It will take a while to hone in on what is best since you likely have a schedule that varies daily.
I have encouraged many people to do this, even if they don't have trouble sleeping since you will discover what your body requires and not what your mind wants. Oversleeping can cause almost the same amount of health problems as not sleeping enough.
Fine-tuning your mind(this method is not limited to sleep) and body is one of the most important things you can do to make you healthy and productive. It amazes me that it is not more common...
Do watch your health. It is of prime importance.