Sleep - It's Not How Much, But When

By Carmen Gilfillan

If you're someone who didn't sleep so well last night for whatever reason, you may be feeling a little jaded as you read this. This is understandable. You may well be thinking that just by getting your so-called 'eight hours' of sleep for the next few nights may redress the balance.

This is true, to an extent. You'll learn more about why I say 'to an extent' in a moment.

However, you may also be someone who did get your eight hours last night, and the night before and the night before, but for some reason you feel you're not firing on all cylinders. This also understandable, and you're about to find out why.

Not All Sleep Is Equal

We may think that all sleep is equal. But it isn't. The quality of our sleep varies from one part of the night to another. Our bodies have a natural rhythm to them, and that rhythm is thousands of years old. It is called a circadian rhythm.

It is the rhythm of nature, and one that animals instinctively live by. We are as human beings essentially animal, and are designed to live according to this natural rhythmic cycle.

That cycle can be seen in the passage of the day and the passage of the seasons. We have the dawn of the day (Spring) where we wake up. We then move into the main part of our day (Summer) when we are most adapted to work. This is followed by winding down towards the end of the day (Autumn) and finally sleeping at night (Winter).

We are therefore naturally designed to wake up with the rising of the sun and sleep when the sun goes down. When we adjust our lifestyle to accommodate this natural rhythm we have a better quality of sleep.

Our Natural Sleep Cycles

Similar to this natural rhythmic cycle, our sleep pattern also has a natural cycle to it. When we sleep we oscillate between deep regenerative sleep (where the body repairs itself) to the slightly lighter REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep state in which we dream.

These sleep cycles last for around 90 minutes each. So if you are finding that you are getting eight hours sleep and you still feel tired when you wake up, you're probably setting your alarm clock to wake you up in the middle of a sleep cycle rather than at the end of it.

For example if you went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 8am you would have slept for nine hours and gone through six complete sleep cycles. These would be:

Cycle 1. 11.00 pm-12.30 am

Cycle 2. 12.30 am-2.00 am

Cycle 3. 2.00 am-3.30 am

Cycle 4. 3.30 am-5.00 am

Cycle 5. 5.00 am-6.30 am

Cycle 6. 6.30 am-8.00 am

After sleeping from 11pm to 8am, you'd probably feel quite refreshed when you woke up.

If, however, you set your alarm to wake you up at 7am you would have got eight hours of sleep, but would have woken up during a 90-minute sleep cycle (between 6.30 and 8.00). Therefore it's possible you wouldn't feel quite as refreshed on waking as you would do if you had woken up at 8.00am

Repair & Rejuvenation

In addition to these shorter, 90 minute, cycles, according to our circadian rhythm, the body regenerates and rejuvenates itself most significantly between the hours of 10pm and 2am.

So you may be going to bed at say 1am and sleeping until 9am to get your eight hours, but you're losing out on three vital hours of body repair time every night. And if you work shift patterns, especially the night shift, you may be throwing your circadian rhythm out completely, denying yourself the chance of adequately repairing your body during sleep.

3 Top Sleep Tips

So to give yourself a higher chance of improving your performance, productivity and subsequent results in life consider the following three tips:

1. Bring your lifestyle in line with your natural circadian rhythm and get to bed by 10pm

2. Ensure that you have eight or more hours of sleep per night

3. Try not to wake up to an alarm clock. If you must, set it such that you're waking up at the end of a 90-minute sleep cycle rather than in the middle of it

Source

Dr John Demartini - Lessons from Billionaires

Great advice from Dr John. Lives on a boat that cruises round the world. Spends his time with ultra high net worth's. Consistent conversation about money, finance, world issue, always learning, always growing.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE

SO important to be around people that are hungry, and will allow you to grow and improve. Get yourself round winners!! Lose the negative influences.

"The E-Myth" - Key-note lecture by Michael E. Gerber

This chap is the man, What he speaks about business is gospel. Very inspiring to listen to and incredibly useful advice to apply to a new and existing business. Amazing man, and amazing book!!

Start An Online Business - How To Cut Your Financial Pain, Depression, And Debt

By Marc-Eddie Drouinaud Jr. 

People all over the world are trying to find a stable source of income. If you want to cut your financial pain and depression, I would advise you to strongly take what I share in this article into consideration.

As of today, more people are starting online-based businesses. People are mastering new marketing techniques in order to drive more sales. If you are able to master new marketing techniques, like social media and blogging, you will be able to make good income in short time. Most people in the corporate world are tired of working for a living and they want to live a higher-quality lifestyle.

Starting an online-based business can be a lucrative business move, however I must tell you that a lot of people fail everyday when they try to launch their brand of the ground. In addition, I would recommend that you go to the Better Business Bureau's website to get an honest review on whether the online-based opportunity you choose is legit or not.

Here are three types of marketing techniques you can use to give you the best chances of having financial success, in my opinion.

Technique 1: Blogging

When you start an online-based business it is great to start a blog. In order to have success in blogging, you must provide quality content to your market. Everyday, people look for solutions to their problems and as a marketer, you must help them. However, before you try to sell your products and services to the masses, I would recommend that you go to services, like Google Trends, to see what types of keywords that you market is looking for.

Technique 2: Sending Emails

As of today, emails are still a great way to communicate what you have to offer to the masses. I would recommend that you start small before going on a big budget when it comes to using mass emailing services. You can purchase some email lists and practice sending different emails to see what works and what does not work. I would recommend that you do not send more than three emails per day for each lead you receive.

Technique 3: Get help from experts

When you are starting an online-based business, it is your responsibility to gather as much information as possible. I would recommend that you join some forums and talk with some people who have been in the arena before. Forums are a place where people come together on the internet to talk about different topics.

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How to Turn Life's Lemons Into Lemonade

By Pierre Pinkerton

This article is a shift in terms of focus. Although relevant for the fields of business development and growth, the theme of this article is on personal development before business development.

I've always been a huge fan of sales gurus and personal growth experts like Zig Ziglar, Earl Nightingale, Norman Vincent Peale, Dale Carnegie, etc. While initially thinking these guys were full of 'it' and irrelevant; now, with time and experience having matured me to a reasonable level (I hope), I've come to not only attest to truths that these guys and others live by and teach, but also their beliefs and wisdom are very relevant and timeless.

One of the core truths taught and deeply ingrained into my subconscious is the following: failures in life will either strengthen and motivate you to grow and develop or they have the very real ability to break you down.

What do I mean when I say failures in life? Well, quite simply, these are the moments in our lives that the results and outcomes come totally different and often more severe than we had anticipated. Whether it's a job loss, divorce, eviction, bankruptcy, failed job interview, a blown investment, or being defrauded by someone, we all face these challenges at one time in life or another.

The key that I've learned about these negative life events is that you have A CHOICE in how you respond. The thing that keeps most of us in 'ruts' of negativity, isolation, and hopelessness is that we allow ourselves to be motivated by fear in a wrong way. Rather than thinking about how worse and severe a negative life event can become, why not choose to be motivated by the fear of the situation to take hold of hope. Choose to take a strong hold of hope and never let go no matter how bad it hurts or feels.

Now here's another underlying truth in being motivated by the fear of negative life events: don't labor your mind or put a heavy burden on yourself for solving your problems overnight; instead, relax, rest, and remain positive. What I've learned and continue to grow in is that more than likely the answer needed to resolve the problem(s) is right under your nose or floating somewhere in your mind. How do these 'uh huh' moments happen? Truly in the most odd ways possible to be completely honest. There's no secret formula (or at least one that I've found that works) or secret sauce that induces these moments, but here's one way to put yourself in the state of mind to increasing their frequency: relax, live life, serve others well, listen more than you speak, forgive completely, and love sincerely.

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