Sleep is not rest — it’s restoration: Why recharging your mind and body is the real productivity hack

Sleep is vital for maintaining a healthy mind and body. It is an instinctual process that restores, refreshes, and prepares us for a new day. Sleep is more than a time of rest — it restores energy, supports clear thinking, balances our emotions, and gives physical health a boost.

. But in a busy world, sleep is typically the first thing to go. The confrontations with working too hard, the demands of being an academic, not being able to disconnect virtually for the day, daily stress, or even some combination of these things add up to sleep being cut short or non-existent. At the moment, it does not seem like a big deal, yet cumulative sleep deprivation will impact physiological and emotional well-being long-term. Physically, during sleep deprivation, our brain loses its ability to regulate emotions, focus, and make good decisions. Sleep deprivation will lead to poorer processing of information, resulting in irritability, more distractibility, worsened motivation, and similar outcomes. Long-term lack of sleep has also been associated with mental health issues, particularly anxiety, depression, and stress-related disorders.

Increased insomnia has been shown to disrupt the delicate balance of neurotransmitters and hormones responsible for and aiding in mood and emotional regulation. An imbalance of neurotransmitters and hormones can negatively impact brain functioning to become more reactivity, less resilient, and less emotionally stable, all of which are detrimental in the short term and long term.Sleep is inherently essential for memory, learning, creativity, and problem solving - all skills we want to boost in our work or simply live intentionally and confidently.

When well-rested, we are mentally flexible and open to new ideas or ways of thinking. On the flip side, sleep deprivation increases barriers to mentally linking, recalling, or creatively thinking of any information. It is interesting that if we stay in a most chronically sleep deprived position, we now have a stress response turned on in our systems which is sustained in a chronic and constant state of stress and daily tension that we may deplete our mental battery life and/or weaken our immune systems which places us in a state where we could get sick or physically ill if we do not replenish ourselves with good self-care and sleep.

Good sleep hygiene is so important because it impacts both mental and physical states of well-being. Good sleep hygiene consists of some helpful habits: establish a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, limit screen time in the hours leading up to bedtime, avoid caffeine drinks and alcohol, and ensure a sleeping space is quiet, dark, and comfortable. Basic relaxation techniques, or relaxation practices, can clear the mind and prepare the brain for sleep (i.e.,

meditation, yoga, mindfulness, deep breathing). Small habits can help us ‘shift gears’ (i.e., not allowing cell phones or iPads/computers in bed to limit blue light; thinking of a few things that you are grateful for to create emotional closure for sleep and a peaceful night's sleep), which can lead to deeper and restorative sleep.Unfortunately, our culture promotes sleep deprivation as a badge of honor. Working late or staying up late in juxtaposition with the concept that sleep deprivation equals ambition, work, or productivity.

The reality is that you cannot have sustained achievement from exhaustion. We need to change the mindset of ‘sleeping less is doing more’ to ‘real success lies in the balance of rest and clarity.’ As practitioners, leaders, and nurturers, we have a collective responsibility to advocate for the awareness of the necessity of rest, particularly in relation to students and other practitioners who may exhaust themselves in their endeavor to be exceptional.Sleep is not something we do for ourselves, but something we do for we rise and fall with biology. In a productive culture, it could be beneficial to regard sleep as restorative. Being in a culture that values productivity it can be productive to acknowledge the restorative function of sleep. In actuality, wellness is not there to add more and more frequently rather it is actually in restoration - the restoration of our mind and body to heal, refresh and beneficially thrive.

Sleep is really not rest; it is restoration.Lt Pratima Pandey, Director of Sports & Dean of Student Welfare, Noida International University