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Full disclosure: I don’t get enough sleep and I do it erratically, sometimes working at 3 or 4 in the morning on a project. No one expects me to do this. I do it because I can and because it beats tossing and turning when I can’t sleep. Entrepreneurs have busy minds, thinking up ideas, scanning the horizons for new opportunities. It can be hard to shut down. But ample sleep is important for your own peace of mind and for your business.

How much sleep is constantly debated but generally 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is important for your average adult’s functioning. Continued lack of sleep can cause confusion, irritability (not good when working with clients!) and declining health.

Adequate sleep is the fuel of calm creativity, crucial to developing and growing your business relationships. There are some easy steps to increasing the quantity and improving the quality of your sleep:

1. TRY to keep a schedule. Your body knows when to wind down if you teach it to.

2. Establish rituals. If you’ve set 11pm as your “lights off” hour, start at 10pm with a warm bath, a novel and some soft music. No stimulants like TV or business books at bedtime!

3. Keep your bedroom as cool and clutter-free as possible. It’s better to have a cooler air temperature and more blankets than warm air and a messy bedroom does not engender sleep.

4. If you cannot sleep, do not get up. Give yourself 30 minutes and then turn on the lights and read in bed some more. Avoid getting up.

5. Many people are able to sleep better with a white noise machine (iPhone has apps for this!) or a fan to block out street and house noises. If there is too much light, get improved window coverings or try a sleep mask.

Let’s make a pact, you and I, to getting consistent and better sleep this year!

Tags: Business, Conditions and Diseases, entrepreneur, Health, Organizations, Products and Services, Sleep disorder, Television, United States

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.