A Good Night's Sleep Could Make You Richer

Sanfine International Hospital | Jun 15, 2016 5:42 pm | Add a comment | 1683 reads | Sponsored

You snooze, you lose? Not really. According to one study, lack of sleep costs the United States about USD 63.2 billion per year.

You’ve probably experienced that zombie feeling after a poor night's sleep. A night of partying, five episodes of your favorite TV show or that presentation due in the morning – regardless of whatever it is that’s keeping you up, you should know this: frequent late nights or chronic sleeplessness hurt more than just your ability to get through the day, they can hurt your wallet too!

Optimism Bias

A study has found that people who don't get enough sleep are more prone to unreasonable optimism. Everything from choosing investments to deciding whether to change careers and to operating heavy machinery can be affected by irrational optimism.

This is part of the reason why casinos are always so brightly lit. The environment keeps gamblers awake and unaware of their own fatigue, so they keep chasing winnings that they'll never reach.

Decision Fatigue

At the end of the work day, you may feel tired and unable to concentrate. This is because, after making small decisions all day long, you are left with less mental energy to make any more choices. "Decision fatigue" is made worse by insomnia. Trying to decide which flight to book, which candidate to hire or which technology to adopt are all much harder decisions when you are fatigued.

Impaired Cognitive Functioning

Researchers have found that even a single sleepless night increases concentrations of the molecules NSE and S-100B. These molecules make performing everyday tasks, like driving or solving a simple math calculation, seem more complex. This kind of cognitive impairment affects everything including planning, your ability to pay attention, and memory.

The worst part of impaired cognitive fucntioning is that these effects can become worse, which means you don't just feel less smarter after five nights of poor sleep – you may actually be less smarter!

Emotional Outbursts

Forget “hangry” (feeling more angry when you are hungry). There may be another reason that’s causing your next-level irritability: exhaustion.

According to a recent small study, a lack of sleep may alter your ability to process emotions and keep them in check. These outbursts and over-reactions may even occur while you are at work, and hamper your chances of getting that promotion.

Rest Easy: These Solutions Are a Dream Come True!

Luckily, these sleep-related consequences can be avoided if you commit to getting a good night's sleep every night. Here are some dos and dont's you can follow to sleep better and combat the money snapping brain-fog.

Don’t forget the basics: Keep the room temperature on the cooler side, make the bedroom as dark as possible and ensure that your mattress and pillow are comfortable. If you are sharing a bed, it’s a good idea to use separate blankets.

Do have a dedicated sleeping space: Avoid bringing your food, pets, laptop and mobile phones to the bed, and dedicate the bed only for sleeping (and other bedroom related activities – ahem, ahem!).

Don’t mess with the body clock: oversleeping on the weekends does not compensate for under-sleeping on the weekdays. A fluctuating sleep schedule just confuses your body clock and over time, this may cause difficulty in being able to fall asleep.

Do exercise: If you find yourself tossing and turning most of the night, a 30-minute workout during the day, along with some meditation, may help you fall asleep quicker. A warm shower before bed may also help. Counting sheep, however, is said to ineffective, because it is too simple a method. If you must count, try to count backwards from 300.

Don’t hit the snooze button: Studies show that the five extra minutes may not be worth it after all. Waking up and going back to sleep repeatedly leaves you feeling more tired during the day.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

Simply put, a good night’s sleep improves your alertness, your ability to evaluate risks, make sound decisions and maintain emotional stability, thereby contributing to career or business success.

Lastly, before bidding you goodnight and wishing you sweet dreams, we'd like to leave you with one last fun fact about sleep:

This post is the first in a bimonthly series written and sponsored by Sanfine International Hospital, which offers state-of-the-art care and world-class service in the heart of Sanlitun.