Why a good night’s sleep and sunshine can change your attitude

People who know me well know that I struggle to get a good night’s sleep frequently. They also know that I crave sunshine. Neither was working for me yesterday.

Yesterday in Wisconsin looked like November when snow is a  little more appreciated.

Snow was falling to the extent that at one point from my office perch on top of my hill, I couldn’t see much. It was a full whiteout.

I’m a see forever, positive attitude kind of person.

I find that my sense of vision gets really clouded (much like my view from my windows) when we have days of clouds or unseasonal weather.

Change your attitude – get more sleep and sunshine

I am not good at sleeping either and when I caught a retweet of this New York Times article: How Little Sleep Can You Get Away With? I had to go read it. I didn’t like the conclusions either:

Not every sleeper is the same, of course: Dinges has found that some people who need eight hours will immediately feel the wallop of one four-hour night, while other eight-hour sleepers can handle several four-hour nights before their performance deteriorates. (But deteriorate it will.)

There is a small portion of the population — he estimates it at around 5 percent or even less — who, for what researchers think may be genetic reasons, can maintain their performance with five or fewer hours of sleep. (There is also a small percentage who require 9 or 10 hours.)

Last night though, I succeeded! I slept through the night from 9:30pm to 6:50am. YAY! and better yet, I woke up to sunshine streaming in my windows.

I don’t know about you, but I can tackle anything with the combination of a good night’s sleep and sunshine the next day.

As someone reminded me on Facebook, it is still only 28F (-2C for my European and Canadian readers) here and spring has been very slow coming here in Wisconsin.

We had a brief great warm Sunday last week with a high of 75F followed by tornadoes in the early evening that caused severe damage only 20 miles north of here.

Like many of you, I am ready for storm-free, sunny weather time so I can move forward on my goals. (and more good nights sleep!)

2 Comments

  1. Melissa Cooley on April 22, 2011 at 9:23 am

    While it may be hard to get the requisite sleep when in transition, it’s more critical than ever! Not only does it improve the attitude (as you pointed out), but it enhances performance greatly — all of which will make a job seeker more effective when working to target companies, networking, and interviewing.



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