4 Bedtime Habits of Highly Successful People

Article extract by Tony Robinson – Lifehack

What are successful people doing right before bed? Do you want to know the secret? They set themselves up to have an even more productive day tomorrow.

Here are 4 bedtime habits of highly successful people:

1. Unplug

“Unplug from all digital/electrical devices”.
According to Dr Charles Czeisler, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard University, the bright lights produced by our cell phone screens disrupt our bodies natural sleep rhythm and actually “trick” our bodies into thinking it’s daytime. These bright lights send a message to our brains that prevents certain chemicals from being released, causing us to have a much harder time going to sleep. So, if you want a good night’s rest, turn off your phone, TV, IPOD, laptop.

2. Leaders are readers

Bill Gates spends an hour before bed reading a book – ranging from politics to current events. Aside from the obvious benefits of gaining new knowledge, reading daily has also been shown to reduce stress and improve memory. A study from Essex University revealed that reading for as little as six minutes a day can reduce stress levels by up to 68%. Reading can also improve the long term health of your brain. Every time you read, it’s like a mental workout for your mind.

3. Meditate

Oprah Winfrey and many successful men and women believe in a nightly meditation ritual to increase productivity and clarity of thought. In a 2014 study – of 19 000 people meditation was found to help reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain.

4. Plan the next day

Kenneth Chenault American Express CEO believes in planning out three priorities he wants to accomplish for the following day. That way, in the morning, he can get to work on his most important tasks, right away. In a study re time management, researchers followed a group of students from their high school years, until four years later at the end of their college careers. The researchers tested these students on their time management skills in high school, and when they caught up with those students four years later, they made a shocking discovery.

The students with better time management skills, had higher college GPA’s then their peers who had higher SAT scores. Basically, time management played a bigger role in their academic success than actual scholastic aptitude.

So now you know the 4 secret habits of highly successful people before they go to sleep, follow these and you are guaranteed a productive day tomorrow.