Why is getting a good night’s sleep not treated with the same importance as having a healthy diet or regular exercise? Studies show bad quality sleep can weaken the immune system and have a very negative impact on hormones and brain function. In contrast, a good night of sleep can improve your ability to think, create and do. In this article, we take a look at the importance of sleep and how bad quality sleep can hinder your focus and creativity.
Why the Brain Demands Good Quality Sleep
Bad quality sleep is shown to impair cognitive function and reduce your capacity to concentrate. Concentration is essential for creativity and the relation between brain function and sleep further impedes the creative process. This is also because the brain consolidates experiences during sleep and allows for better processing during wakefulness. Without good quality sleep, cognitive function is disrupted and the ability to focus diminishes significantly.
In case you might be asking yourself, the prefrontal cortex of the brain is less active when a person is deprived of sleep. This function of the brain is responsible for decision-making which inevitably causes people to struggle when it comes to idea generation or problem-solving. Lack of good quality sleep also affects the ability to regulate emotions which is known to decrease motivation and increase irritability which then disrupts the creative process. It’s a vicious cycle that can cause mental fog, frustration, and lack of awareness. This impaired function also leads to an inability to focus, think, and deploy creativity.
How Poor Sleep Destroys Your Ability to Think and Create
If you listen to Matthew Walker, you’ll know that bad quality sleep affects every part of our every day lives. The famous ‘sleep expert’ says that no aspect of human biology is left unscathed by lack of sleep, and it sinks into every nook and cranny of our very being. That is to say, poor sleep not only affects focus, creativity and cognitive function but also the immune system and bodily function. It can increase risk in terms of disease and sleep deprivation can even lead to chronic conditions which include obesity and diabetes.
Contrary to what some people think, you can’t sleep off a debt when it comes to sleep and pay it off down the road some time. If you want to optimize your ability to focus and create, you need to get a good nights’ sleep and prioritise this sleep in the same way that you might prioritise the need for regular exercise or a healthy diet. Either way, good quality sleep is necessary for improving and enhancing your level of creativity and concentration.
But how might you sleep better to improve your creativity and focus?
How to Sleep Better and Improve Your Creativity and Focus
Studies indicate there are certain things you can avoid or do which will help you sleep better. Most of these suggestions are scientifically proven and at least shown to help you avoid certain things that have a negative impact on sleep. Let’s take a look at five such examples:
1. Stick to a Sleep Schedule
Most adults are said to require at least 7 hours of sleep to function, but you may need more or less than this amount. Creating a schedule involves going to bed and waking up at the same time each day and ensuring you meet these hourly requirements. Repetition of this schedule will essentially train your body/mind to a new sleep-wake cycle and give you the best possible chance of ensuring your brain is rested enough to create and focus properly.
2. Create the Ideal Sleep Environment
The environment in which you sleep should be carefully designed to invite a good night of sleep. You can do this by drawing the curtains and adjusting the temperature to ensure the room is dark, quiet, and cool. You might also use a fan, ear plugs or dim lights to create this enhanced sleep environment and it shouldn’t cost you much time or energy to do this.
3. Get Rid of Distractions
Everything and everyone in the world are designed to distract you from what you want to think and do! It’s true and you often need to take action to avoid these distractions. A great way to begin is by removing computers, televisions, and electronics from your bedroom. You should also perhaps leave your phone to charge in another room and invest in a cheap alarm clock so that you don’t ‘need’ the alarm from your smart phone to wake up.
4. Pay Close Attention to Your Diet
Going to bed with a full stomach is a bad idea and so too is going to bed hungry. This is why you should also stick to a regular eating schedule and maybe avoid heavy meals within a couple of hours of going to bed. Stimulants such as alcohol, caffeine and nicotine are also known to impact the quality of sleep and certainly make it harder for you fall asleep.
5. Calming Activities Before Bedtime
There are many activities such as meditation or taking a bath which can help you feel calmer before bedtime. While not proven to ensure better sleep, these activities will at least help you avoid feeling more anxious or stressed. Exercise can also help you sleep better because regular exercise will naturally make you feel more tired and ready for some shut eye. That said, it is best to avoid strenuous exercise close to bed as this can have the opposite effect.
Final Thoughts
Good quality sleep is essential for a healthy lifestyle and proven to foster mental clarity, focus and creativity. If we can recognize the value of good quality sleep, we can optimize performance and significantly improve our capacity to create and focus. While it might not be treated with the same respect as a healthy diet or regular exercise, a good nights’ sleep might just be the difference that takes your concentration and creativity to the next level.
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