A Remedy That Makes You More Creative

What would you think when a scientist told you that there’s a remedy that increases your productivity at work, makes you more creative, improves your memory and mood, helps you maintain weight, and doesn’t let you take too many risks or be stupid? It’s completely natural. It’s not MMS or TRS Advanced. It’s completely free and without side effects. It’s sleep.

Lots of research has convincingly shown that good sleep is the basis for good health, wellbeing, and mental fitness. So, it’s interesting, sad, and ironic that humans are the only species that voluntarily and intentionally reduces its amount of sleep. It’s as if we’re investing in our health: we exercise, eat organically, drink smoothies, but at the same time, we wake up using an alarm clock, drink several cups of coffee or energy drinks during the day, and our life goes on. We hear people saying that sleep is for the weak. In fact, sleep is for the wise.

Sleep is vital for every person: for artists and athletes, car dealers and office workers, inventors and senior executives. Good sleep helps to take the most out of life. The main reason is that only by having rested enough we can manage and direct our brain well enough to do those things we truly have to do and want to achieve.

Research done on brain models has shown that if we don’t sleep our connections in the frontal lobe are less capable of suppressing the work of evolutionarily older brain areas that direct our thoughts and behavior to sugar and other pleasures. Employees who haven’t slept enough are worse at controlling their thoughts and tend to look at social media more. It’s the same with healthy eating: when you haven’t slept enough, you’re quicker to reach for chocolate, pastry, and ice cream. Research shows that chronic sleep deprivation leads to being overweight and obesity. Too short sleep increases hunger and appetite, impairs impulse control, increases the amount of food consumed, and thus, does a disservice to your healthy lifestyle.

But how short is short? To stay in great shape for a two third of your day and life, you need to sacrifice a third of your whole day and life to good sleep. For those who need exact numbers: try to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night; schoolkids need 9 to 11 hours, smaller children 10 to 12 hours of sleep.

I’m sure some you’re thinking: “Jesus Christ, that’s so much! I have so much to do!” Do you think that the more you work, the more you get done? That’s a mistake. It’s not the total time you’re working on a task that counts, but the time your brain is effectively working on the task. Tens of experiments in psychology have shown that we learn, solve problems, and think better when we focus. But a good basis for focusing is … well, you know what I’m going to say – enough sleep!
And don’t worry, you’re not wasting time when you’re sleeping: measuring the brain activity of rodents and humans has shown that during sleep, ideas and memories are sorted and linked to old ones; all the valuable stuff is extracted while you’re asleep. After sleeping your brain is clearer and thoughts move more freely. By the way, this also goes to taking daily naps! So, if possible, instead of coffee, take a 10-minute nap after your lunch. This helps you to have more creative solutions both at work as well as in life (if you need those creative solutions in your private life).

If you want to improve your mental and physical form, improve your sleep. If you want to improve your child’s behavior and the way they handle school, improve their sleep as well. Children who haven’t slept enough have even more difficulty with controlling their hands and feet and mouths, and so it might seem that the child is hyperactive; in fact, they might not get enough sleep.

A few science-based tips for your you and your children to sleep well:

1. Every day, go to bed around the same time, then your brain gets used to falling asleep fast.
2. Half an hour before bed, all smart devices and computers should be turned off – these keep the brain awake and stop us from falling asleep at the right time.
3. Don’t consume any drinks that contain caffeine in the evening (during the last four hours of the day).
4. Don’t use sleeping pills for a long time (more than two weeks, except for when prescribed) – these don’t improve your sleep but ruin your brain and life.
5. When your partner who tosses and turns disturbs you, separate your beds – be kind to each other’s sleep at night and you’re in a better mood during the day.