Staying up late to get ahead can do more harm than good and ultimately hold you back from true success
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Staying up late to get ahead can do more harm than good and ultimately hold you back from true success
- Tracey Hancock
Thinking you'll stay up tonight and get on top of that work. It'll be okay, you say, because you'll make up for it soon, maybe next week or at the weekend, or when you go on holiday in a few months time.
But truth be told it isn't a one-off kind of thing, is it. You've been consistently staying up late for work for weeks, months or even years now.
The quantity and quality of your sleep directly influences how you show up each day.
Getting extra sleep in the future doesn't make up for the sleep you're losing now. It's not like a loan where you can dip into 'sleep debt' and make up for it further down the track.
For your mind and body to function well you need sleep now.
And it's not just the quantity of sleep either, it's the quality of sleep you're getting. So even if you're in bed for 8 hours but you're tossing and turning, your body won't have time to do what it needs to do to rebuild, restore and repair itself.
Staying up late to get ahead might seem like a good idea but it's going to hold you back. A one-off late night every now and then is manageable. But when it becomes night after night for weeks, months or years, you'll experience a range of health issues that may or may not be obvious (at least to start with).
Recognising the signs of being tired - the obvious and not so obvious
There are the obvious signs of tiredness ... yawning, needing coffee to get through the day, feeling flat and in need of a sleep mid-afternoon, irritability, a lack of focus, headaches, and an almost constant feeling of being unwell.
But dive deeper to see what's going on beneath the surface will reveal what's really happening to your health ...
- lowered or compromised immunity making you more prone to colds and in the long term increasing your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, cancer and autoimmune diseases
- an increased appetite and with it strong cravings for sugary and fatty foods
- blood vessels working less effectively
- there's increased damage to cells in particular those in the liver, lungs and small intestines
- an almost constant state of anxiousness
- increased weight because you're body is less able to regulate blood sugar levels
All that because getting ahead was prioritised above sleep.
I get it. I've been there and done that. I put work and other commitments ahead of my body's need for sleep because I thought it was the right thing to do. While there might be some short term gains, in the long term, which is where true success comes in, things are far from rosey, in fact they can be quite serious.
Putting you and your health at the heart of everything you do means you can experience greater clarity, be more productive, get through the day well, and ultimately maintain a level of health that not only helps you be successful at work but also in the whole of your life.
Sleep, quality sleep, is a priority now.
Sleep isn't something for months down the track when you're on holiday or next year or whenever. If you're serious about living your life fully now and experience true success, the time for sleep is now.
Sleep well - Tracey
Tracey Hancock is a coach and mentor to people wanting to put their health at the heart of everything they do so they can achieve true success in life and business. Using the High Quality Health principles you can create a roadmap that’s specifically tailored for you to achieve your life and business dreams and goals.
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