When Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd describes her path to success, she cites a good night’s sleep as being “nourishing to your mind, body, and soul.” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos agrees, saying that “eight hours of sleep makes a big difference for me, and I try hard to make that a priority.” So many successful people value their sleep that it’s a shock more Americans won’t follow their lead. Insufficient sleep costs Americans $411 billion in lost productivity every year.
How does sleep improve success? There are many ways. Regular sleep improves both declarative (fact retrieval) and procedural (task-oriented) memory. Clerical errors and mistakes are less likely to happen when one is well rested. Sleep strengthens the human immune system, shielding individuals from illness. People who want to invest in themselves ought to invest in their sleeping hours.
There are numerous easy steps that can be taken by someone who wants to improve their sleep. One of the most prevalent is to limit exposure to blue light before bed. Electronic screens emit blue light, which inhibits melatonin by up to 200%. Another tip is to wash bedsheets often. 73% of people say they’re more excited to sleep with fresh sheets.
