[imagesource: here]

I’ve come across more than a few people over the years who like to brag about being able to function on two or three hours of sleep a night.

That badge of pride seems to be tied to unrealistic notions of what it means to work hard and achieve goals.

One of the perks of working from home is that extra hour of shut-eye I’ve earned by not having to make the commute to the office, along with only having to shower at midday.

Don’t judge me – there’s a solid argument to be made for the benefits of forfeiting an early morning shower in favour of getting enough rest.

Your health is impacted by lifestyle choices. To stay on top of your game, you need to be conscious of what you’re eating, move around a little (these home workouts will get you going), and perhaps most importantly, focus on healthy sleeping habits.

Here’s Rolling Stone:

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommends adults between 18 and 60 years old get at least seven hours of sleep per night. The organization says getting less sleep than that can increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, poor mental health and lifespan.

Back in the day if you had trouble sleeping you’d book yourself into a sleep clinic so that experts could figure out why. You can still do that today if you want hyper-accurate data, which is advisable if you think you might have a disease like sleep apnea or chronic insomnia.

For those who just want to keep on top of things, there are sleep trackers that you can use in your home:

Garmin Vivosmart 4

Garmin’s Vivosmart is a fitness band that doubles up as a sleep tracker.

It fits around your wrist, and has advanced sensors that can track your motion accurately enough to determine how long you were in light, deep, or REM (Rapid Eye Motion) sleep. The Vivosmart 4 also has a Pulse Oxygen sensor, which Vivosmart says can gauge the rate at which your body is absorbing oxygen.

All that info is then recorded on your smartphone, so that you can see how much sleep you got, and how long you spent in each stage of the sleep cycle.

You’ll find the Garmin Vivosmart 4 Takealot.

Apple Watch Series 5

The official sleep app for the All Watch Series 5 is still on the way, but it’s worth the wait.

You can see how long you’ve slept, how much restful sleep you’ve gotten, and how much restless sleep you’ve gotten. The app will also tell you when you got your “best sleep” for the night (longest streak of restful sleep). You’ll also get a breakdown of your typical sleep and wake times for each day of the week.

You can order one of these beauties online from Digicape, or visit one of their stores. Their tech-savvy staff can also show you how to use it.

Withings Sleep Tracking Pad

If you’re not keen on wearing a device around your wrist, you could use a tracking pad.

Once it’s set up, Withing’s Sleep Tracking Pad is basically invisible. When you go to sleep, sensors in the pad can detect your heart rate and movement, which it uses to determine whether you’re asleep, and the state of sleep you’re in (light, deep, or REM). When you wake up, the data is synced to Withing’s severs over WiFi, and accessible on your phone.

Head on over to Amazon to order one online.

To ensure that your tracker is recording an accurate reading on all of these devices, make sure to follow the usual advice.

Avoid your phone for at least half an hour before bedtime, maintain a healthy diet, and try not to stay up too late.

There are also podcasts designed to help you nod off.

Rest easy.

[source:rollingstone]