Getting Better Sleep Will Change Your Life — Here's How To Make It Happen

How can I fix my sleeping habits?

Establishing good sleeping habits is one of the best ways to transform your life — there's little that affects your day more than how you slept the night before.

But as the 40% of Americans who don't get enough sleep know, getting a good night's rest is easier said than done.

It's worth it though: There are some incredible benefits to getting more sleep.

Experts recommend establishing a nighttime and morning ritual to help make sure you have the most restful experience between the sheets. Here are nine simple, concrete steps to help you get started.

1. Pick a bedtime. Don't try to go to bed "as early as possible" — that's a vague goal, which makes it almost impossible to achieve. Instead, plan ahead.

Do you want to be up by 7:00? Then get in bed at 11:00. The vast majority of people need between seven and nine hours of sleep a night, so shoot for eight to start, and adjust if it eventually feels like too much or too little.

2. Look at your normal schedule and take note of what you do. Before making any changes, think about what you are doing for the two hours before you want to be asleep. Do you normally watch TV right until you want to get into bed? Do you give yourself any time to get ready for sleep before you actually want to be asleep? Do you do eat or drink anything late at night? You can't change habits until you are aware of what you are already doing.

3. Set some rules for the future. Since you've already taken note of your habits, you can now start re-building your bedtime routine to train yourself to sleep. Set rules that will help you relax.

One big one: never do anything work-related in bed, including checking your email or social media accounts. If you associate your bed with work, it'll be much harder to relax there. That old advice about reserving your bed for sleep and sex is pretty solid — even if 9 out 10 Americans ignore it — but really, just make sure you don't do anything in bed that isn't relaxing.

4. Don't eat or drink alcohol right before bed. Eating too soon before sleeping is associated with heartburn, which can ruin a night. And even though a nightcap is tempting and might help you fall asleep at first, people who drink a lot before bed usually experience disruptions to their sleep in the second half of the night. The more time you can give yourself between partying and feasting and sleeping, the better your rest will be overall.

5. Put your smartphone and laptop away at least 30 minutes before bedtime. This is advice that people love to ignore, but there are very good reasons for it. The blue light from your phone mimics the brightness of the sun, which tells your brain to stop producing melatonin, an essential hormone that regulates your circadian rhythm and tells your body when it's time to wake and when it's time to sleep.

Disruptions to your circadian rhythm are not only linked to poor sleep, they're also connected to vision problems, cancer, and depression. Put the damn phone away.

6. Spend the 30 minutes before sleep relaxing. Here are a few recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation and a few other sources:

• Read a book or magazine you enjoy — just make sure it's not work related.
• Write your thoughts down. Experts say journaling at night can help manage stress and anxiety, making it easier for you to drift off. Spending a few minutes writing in a journal is associated with more productive workdays, less stress, fewer symptoms of depression, and more.
• Create a hygiene ritual that sends a psychological signal that you are getting ready for bed. Brush your teeth, wash your face, floss.
• Try meditation. Studies show that mindfulness meditation lowers stress and promotes psychological well-being. If you want something that will send you to sleep, the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center has a selection of free downloadable meditations, including one specifically designed to be done in bed.

7. If in the end you can't sleep after all that, try not to fight it. Get out of bed, make yourself a cup of herbal tea, and go read something relaxing (or boring, even — but again, not work-related). Don't look at the screen of your TV, phone, or computer, and get back in bed when you feel tired.

8. In the a.m., don't hit snooze. Experts say that those 10 minutes will only leave you groggier if you fall into a deeper sleep and it'll take even longer for you to feel fully awake.

9. Get some exercise and in particular, some sun, early on. It'll wake you up and that early morning exposure to sunlight will shut off melatonin production, priming your body to start producing it again the next night, when you are getting ready for bed.

It's not always easy, but taking these steps can help you get a good night's sleep. And when you wake up fully rested, you'll thank yourself.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-to-sleep-better-2014-12

How To Have More Energy For Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poWUUqr3ct4

12 Things Successful People Do Differently

What does Richard Branson know that we don’t? Or Bill Gates? Or even Barack Obama?

As a writer obsessed with productivity, I’ve scoured the lives of successful people to discover what they do differently from the rest of us.

Here’s what I found out:

1. They keep healthy

Successful people recognize the importance of exercise and keeping healthy. It’s almost impossible to be productive if you’re sick, tired or generally in poor shape.

One high-profile example is the body-builder turned actor turned politician turned actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Whatever you may think about his politics or his acting, you can’t deny he’s committed to physical health. Schwarzenegger won Mr. Olympia seven times before he became a famous film actor, and even when he served as Governor of California he was regularly pictured working out.

You can learn from Schwarzenegger by making time for physical exercise.

2. They fail and fail often

Successful people fail more often than the succeed.

One of the best examples of this is British business man and entrepreneur Richard Branson. During his career, he has set up over 100 companies.

Some of his failures include Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka and Virgin Clothing. Today, however, he’s worth over USD 4.6 billion. You can learn from Branson by taking educated risks and by following his advice:

"You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.”

3. They work outside of the norm

Albert Einstein is the most famous scientist of all time, and he made a career of going against the grain. During the early part of his career, his peers (incredibly) refused to hire him and he struggled to find meaningful employment as a scientist or researcher.

So Einstein took a job working in patent office in Bern in Switzerland, and he conducted scientific research in his spare time, after he’d finished working for the day.

Even after he became famous, Einstein took pride in his outsider status. He spent his later years working on scientific projects that his peers had little interest in. Einstein’s life shows us that it can be good to work outside the norm and to question prevailing wisdom.

He said:

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

4. They pursue outside interests

Even if you have a passion or are committed to your career, it’s important to pursue outside interests and cultivate your hobbies.

Presidents of the United States probably don’t have much time for outside interests, but Barack Obama still makes time for regular basketball games while Bill Clinton and George Bush both liked to jog and play golf.

If they can manage some time to unwind, so can the rest of us.

5. They hold themselves accountable

The inventor and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin made a daily habit of holding himself accountable. Every night before he went to bed he asked himself: what good have I done today? 

He also examined how he spent his day, read and overlooked his business and accounts.

Holding ourselves accountable is important because it helps us work on the right things, at the right time. You can learn from Franklin’s life by getting into the habit of reviewing your day in a journal or by meditating.

6. They begin with the end in mind

Almost every productivity guru I’ve read or wrote about recommends beginning each project with an idea of what you want to accomplish. The thinking is this type of planning will save time (and pain) later on. As someone who has started and abandoned more than his fair share of writing projects, I can vouch for this.

Stephen Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, put this best. He explains the importance of having a system in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

“We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when we begin with the end in mind.”

7. They are action orientated

Successful people always ask what do they need to do next to move a project forward.

David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, is the best example of this. He’s made a career out of getting people to consider what their next action is. You can do the same by working towards your goals through small, incremental actions.

8. The are always seeking out information

The marketer and author Ryan Halliday has written two books including the recently  published The Obstacle is the Way. To help with his writing and research, Halliday keeps information for his upcoming projects in a personal commonplace book.

I’m writing a book and I know how important it is to have a personal library or a resource of information to draw upon (it makes research easy). Halliday recommends a pen and paper system for his commonplace book. You can do the same, or you could use uses apps like Evernote and Simplenote to save your favorite articles and information that you could use for your work.

9. They seek out criticism

Successful people know that criticism enables them to improve. And they even welcome it.

As a film director, Martin Scorsese has to accept more than his fair share of criticism for the work he creates and shares with the world. He said about criticism:

“There are two kinds of power you have to fight. The first is the money, and that’s just our system. The other is the people close around you, knowing when to accept their criticism, knowing when to say no.”

10. They are mentally and physically tough

If you want to be successful, cultivate mental and physical strength.

The best example of this is Michael Phelps. So far, he has won 22 Olympic medals, he is the most decorated Olympian of all time and one of the most focused. His workout routine includes speed training, endurance training, dry land work and weight lifting. Phelps also mentally prepares for competitions, saying

“In Beijing, when my goggles filled with water, I didn’t panic. I went back to all of my training. I knew how many strokes it takes me to get up and down the pool, so I started counting my strokes. I didn’t reach the time I was aiming for, but I did win the race.”

11. They challenge themselves

J.K. Rowling could have called it quits after the Harry Potter series. She was already worth more money than the Queen of England and her legacy as an author was secure. Instead, Rowling changed her name and published the crime book Cuckoo’s Calling under the pen name Robert Gailbraith.

The media quickly discovered her secret, but her experience shows that really successful people push themselves towards new kinds of success. They are never complacent.

12. They know when to say no

Successful people recognize the importance of saying no. They don’t agree to commitments that won’t add value to their lives. Bill Gates is just one successful person who routinely says no. He keeps an empty schedule so that he can fill with with activities that he values.

We don’t all have the luxury or power of Gates but you can still take some lessons from his life. You can recognize that you can always earn more money, but time is limited commodity.

And finally now that you’re more successful than ever, don’t forget to consider your weekends.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/12-things-successful-people-differently.html

Why It Is Difficult to Wake Up Early and a Few Solutions

Do you find it difficult to wake up early in the morning?

Do you set an alarm clock at a certain hour, and when it rings, you either don’t hear it, or just stop it ringing and continue to sleep?

This happens to a lot of people, and is not a matter of laziness as you might think.

There several causes for getting up late. Knowing the reasons, can help you solve the issue.

Reasons for Waking Up Late and the Solutions

Going to sleep late

This is one of the main reasons for waking up late. You just don’t have enough hours of sleep. There are too many distractions, the TV, computers, phones, or going out late and returning late.

The solution

Go to sleep earlier. If getting up early is important to you, you have no choice but to give something in exchange. Don’t watch TV until late, sit in front of your computer, or chat on the phone until a late hour at night, and then go to sleep exhausted.

When returning home late at night from a movie, the theater, pub, or meeting friends, head straight to bed, without TV, speaking on the phone or doing anything else.

Exhaustion and lack of enough energy

Exhaustion and lack of enough energy can make it hard to wake up and get up early. This happens, if you work too hard for too long hours and don’t get any exercise. In this situation, the body craves for sleep.

The solution

Find ways to reduce your work load. Try to stop working several times a day for 5-10 minutes and take a walk outside. This will relax your body and give some fresh air. Also, exercise your body a few times a week, but not before going to sleep.

Don't go to bed only after you are fully exhausted. Going to bed when you are too tired, could sometimes, make it difficult to fall asleep, and when you do, you might wake up late.

Not using an alarm clock

You might be unable to use an alarm clock because you are not alone in the bedroom. You don’t want the sound of the alarm clock to wake or disturb your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, children, or anyone else sleeping in the same room with you.

The solution

You will either need to find an alarm clock with a very soft sound and put it very close you, or follow the next solution.

The habit of sleeping until late

It is possible that getting late has turned into a habit, and therefore, it is not easy to wake up early.

The solution

You need to change this habit. It won’t change by itself, and it won’t change just because you wish to change it. You need to do some work to change it.

1) Write down on a piece of paper that you intend to wake up early each morning, and put it where you can see it often during the day.

2) Remember several times a day, to devote a few minutes to thinking about the advantages and benefits of waking up early.

3) Several times a day, for a few moments, visualize yourself waking up early, at the hour you want. Visualize yourself, looking at the clock to see the time, and then getting out of bed.

4) When in bed at night, don’t watch TV, but you may read a few pages, if you like reading in bed. Afterwards, switch off the light, and go to sleep with the thought that you are going to wake up and get up from bed at the appointed hour.

Do this every day, until it becomes a habit to wake up early.

http://www.successconsciousness.com/blog/time-management/difficult-to-wake-up-early/

Energise Your Life - Take a real power lunch!

Exercising during your lunch break will give you afternoon energy

Don’t take your break at your desk – boost your afternoon with energy-building exercise.

Leisurely breaks sipping G&Ts and swapping office gossip with our colleagues are long gone. Now we’re more likely to find ourselves dropping crumbs into our keyboards as we work through the hour once known as lunch.

Sixty per cent of us eat lunch at our desk every day, with many admitting we’d feel guilty if we left the office for an hour. By not taking lunch, we are working the equivalent of 16 extra days a year.

But if we’re savvy, not only will we get an hour out of the office but we can boost our productivity and energy levels for the afternoon.

‘The biggest thing people need to do halfway through the day is re-energise,’ says Personal Touch Fitness founder Chris Andrews. ‘We’re at a computer all day staring at four walls so we need to make sure we get out and recharge our batteries.’

The best way to do this is with exercise. Personal Touch Fitness organises classes for offices across Britain. ‘We arrange everything from a teacher, to music and equipment, to coming to your meeting room or a nearby park for staff to participate,’ she says. ‘We offer everything from boxercise to yoga to boost you physically and mentally.’

Exercising during the day, especially at lunchtime, gives us a greater potential to burn fat, according to Dylan Jones, performance coach at TwentyTwo Training.

‘Your session will trigger the release of fatty acids to use for fuel, burning body fat instead of the carbohydrates you would have eaten for lunch,’ he says.

‘Your post workout lunch is also more likely to be efficiently processed by the body by transporting nutrients directly to the muscles rather than the waistline. Due to this process, the blood sugar levels will not peak suddenly, minimising the drop-off of the afternoon slump.’

But for something to really invigorate the afternoon, Doug Tannahill, personal trainer at The Third Space , advises a short, sharp circuit with explosive exercises.Jones recommends doing chakra-based exercises during our lunch break. ‘These will help energise the body by working on zones that are related to various functions of health. Things such as lunges and resistance band rows that can be done in the comfort of your office.’

‘This excites the central nervous system, keeping you more awake and alert for the rest of the day,’ he says. ‘The exercises you use in the circuit are most effective if they involve the whole body.

‘I’d recommend jumping squats, medicine ball slams and explosive press-ups (where your hands leave the floor when you come up). Aim for five to seven sets of five reps with no rest between exercises and 90 seconds rest between sets. When you feel your speed/power drop in a round, don’t do another one.’

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/08/energise-your-life-take-a-real-power-lunch-4137261/