It Starts with a Good Mattress—How Sleep Can Make You Happier: Guest Post from Michael Denton

The current hustler mindset has everyone interested in making a good living clocking out late every night. The underlying idea is that, if you don’t go to bed dead-tired from the efforts during the day, you didn’t try enough.

From a freelancer’s perspective, I completely understand the mindset. After all, we spend half of our time looking for new customers and half of it working on current projects. It’s a never-ending cycle of which you can easily lose sight because time never seems to be enough!

Therefore, I decided to talk about the effects lack of sleep can have on your life, how to combat them, and how to be more productive and happier even when you’re hustling (but the right way).

Lack of Sleep: Symptoms and Impact on Life

When you forgo sleep, the most important asset in your toolkit will suffer. The negative impact on your overall mental wellbeing and physical health will be so great that you’ll have trouble concentrating and your energy levels will be on the floor. You’ll feel tired all the time and even the easiest tasks will seem extremely difficult, which will not sit well with the hustler mindset.

As a result, you’ll feel frustrated, anxious and easily irritable. You may also notice physical stiffness (especially in the morning) and a change in your motor skills (usually balance and coordination). Kamil Spark from Mattress Matchers says that these symptoms can be aggravated by a bad sleeping surface, which can also be one of the reasons why you’re not getting enough sleep.

Finally, if you do not address the problem, sleep deprivation can lead to serious health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cardiovascular issues.

How to Improve Sleep

Better doesn’t always mean more. So, if you’re getting the necessary amount of sleep for a fully-grown adult (about seven to eight hours) you should seek ways to improve the quality of your slumber.

According to specialists, we go through several sleep cycles during the night, moving from light to deep and REM (which is the most important). Each complete cycle of sleep lasts for about 90 minutes, and it goes on repeat until we wake up. But, if the sleep conditions aren’t ideal, you may wake up when you enter a light sleep phase, or you may not even get to REM. As a result, you might wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed.

To avoid such a dire situation, make sure to follow these rules:

  • Lighting in the bedroom should be dim (you may want to invest in thick curtains);
  • No electronics around the bed area (not even your phone);
  • The bedroom temperature should be around 19 to 20 degrees Celsius (60 to 67 Fahrenheit);
  • Use special sleep-inducing fragrances or tunes.

But, before you do all that, have a look at your mattress. Is it older than eight years? Does it have lumps or feel too hard/soft when you lie on it? Do you constantly wake up with lower back pain? If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, it’s time for a new bed.

Modern mattresses are a lot more comfort-oriented (they even have designs to alleviate fibromyalgia sufferers now) and most products are affordable nowadays. So, have a look online and choose a bed that suits your needs.

In Conclusion

Living the life of a hustler is not a bad thing, but you must understand we are not built to be up and running at all times. Our brain and our body need rest to work on tissue regeneration, to create new neuronal pathways, or to strengthen the existent ones.

Sleep is not a luxury, it is a necessity if you want to live a healthy and happy life!

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