In American business practices, sleep is not a priority. It seems like for many business people, who take their work home with them and can’t lay down their Blackberry, sleep problems are the norm. Sleep is for the weak, right? You can sleep when you’re dead. But how much better would your business be doing if you were getting a proper amount of z’s?

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Many celebrated authors have benefited from high quality sleep; others famously suffered from sleep disorders and insomnia.  Shakespeare said sleep was the “chief nourisher in life’s feast” in Macbeth while F. Scott Fitzgerald said that “the worse thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to”.  Here are some more quotes on how great writers view sleep:

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Like many other intelligent individuals who understood the impact of proper sleep on their creative abilities and overall performance, the Dalai Lama recognizes the importance of a good night’s sleep. As he said to People magazine in 1979,

“Sleep is the best meditation.”

There really isn’t a more positive endorsement than that of the Dalai Lama, especially when it comes to meditation. After all, regular rest is essential for both the mind and body, so it only goes to follow that high quality sleep is a necessary ingredient of meditation - after all, both involve relaxing and clearing the mind.
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How many times have you heard someone say “my best ideas occur in my sleep” or “I always come up with solutions to my problems after I sleep on them”? Clearly, there is a powerful connection between a good night’s sleep and creative abilities - and using sleep aids may actually suppress this kind of creativity by preventing the kind of deep natural sleep that Speed Sleep promotes. 
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In the last post, we discussed the health benefits of regular sleep; unfortunately getting a full night’s sleep is not always possible despite your best efforts - sleep disorders or other sleep problems can crop up even . In that case, a rejuvenating nap is called for - it can even replace that extra cup of coffee or caffeinated drink. Granted, a nap cannot completely replace a solid night’s sleep, but it can keep you alert and improve your mood and productivity.
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“So it seems to be that practice alone does not quite make perfect; it’s practice with a night of sleep that makes perfect” says Matthew Walker, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “There is this odd notion that we all have in western society that we have to stay awake all the time in order to get more done. And I think that is simply not true. In fact, I think that if you get a good night’s sleep, you will find that you can get more done than if you simply stay awake.”
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