How a Good Night’s Sleep Could Boost Your Career *

Sleeping is not a sign of weakness; it’s the path to success. The stressed-out CEO who drinks coffee by the pint, and has permanent dark circles under their eyes, is a thing of the past. Nowadays, the route to success starts with a proper night’s sleep. Some of the most successful people in the world are now attributing their success to going to bed early. With Silicon Valley introducing nap pods at Google Headquarters, Apple launching a Night Shift feature to reduce the negative effects that a screen backlight has on sleep patterns – businesses around the world value the importance of sleep.

Don’t be superhuman.

As Mark Zuckerberg once said in a Q&A “you don’t have to be superhuman”. Some people beat themselves up for having the occasional lie in, but recent research shows that “a lack of sleep can lead to lost productivity, impaired decision making and illness”, meaning trying to be a sleepless superhuman will have a detrimental effect on your health and your work. Follow in the footsteps of the Facebook COO Sheryl Sanderberg who stays focused by sleeping seven to eight hours a night, and you will increase your productivity.

Sleep more to make more.

Staying up all night drinking coffee, fighting tired yawns, all for the sake of meeting a deadline is not a healthy way of sustaining a career. Rather than increasing productivity, sleep deprivation will make you less productive, and according to one study losing sleep means losing money. “Research shows that more sleep can lead to us earning more money. In the long term, just one extra hour of sleep a week increases wages by 4.9%.” If you work from commission, a good night’s sleep will mean you have more energy to sell and produce more products. So rather than listening to the old saying ‘you snooze you lose’, spend some quality time with your duvet.

Often, when you hear the words terpenes or terpenoids, you are likely to immediately think about cannabis. But that’s not the only plant with a high concentration of it — conifers and all the other sweet-smelling flowers contain them and they can really help you sleep – research backs up these claims.

Sleep like a celebrity.

One of the world’s most respected women, Michelle Obama wakes up at 4.30 or 5.00 every morning, but she goes to bed early every night; sometimes even before her children. Mariah Carey whose voice can hit the highest pitches ever recorded, says she needs fifteen hours of sleep a night to maintain her singing voice. Another one of the world’s most successful people, Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon.com, makes sure he gets eight hours of sleep a night to stay alert. Take advice from the stars and avoid burnout by sleeping for at least eight hours a night, and enjoy a life with less stress and more sweet dreams.

And if you’re looking for something to help aid your sleep; Naturalmat was born when founder Mark Tremlett’s first child came along. He and co-founder Peter Tindall had already developed a natural fibre mattress to replace the synthetic ones found on the yachts they sailed, so it seemed like an obvious next step to devote the same clever thinking to baby mattresses.

 Sixteen years later, Naturalmat is one of the world’s leading names in adult and baby mattresses, as well as bases and toppers. They still only use natural materials like organic lambswool from local sheep. And all products are made by hand in a factory on the banks of the River Exe in Devon from materials that have been harvested according to Fair Trade principals. They are biodegradable and sustainable, contain no chemical additives and are packaged in an environmentally friendly way by actual people, not a computerised assembly line, which all ensures the highest possible quality and an end product that will give years of long lasting comfort.

Their new showroom is now open in Chiswick.