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Sleep, Focus and Cognitive Performance

Do you wake up feeling exhausted? Or have trouble concentrating at work? Or maybe your tolerance levels are lower than usual. It might be you are not getting enough sleep. Cognitive performance is our ability to utilise the knowledge acquired by the mental processes in our brains. A well-functioning brain controls a range of voluntary […]

January 4, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Exercise

Don’t Drink Your Calories

When we’re thirsty, most of us have a huge range of beverages to choose from, but many of these are doing a lot more than quenching our thirst. What regular drinkers of sweetened beverages may not realise is they are adding to their daily energy (or calorie) intake. Australians are drinking a lot of sugar […]

December 19, 2017/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Mindset, Sleep

Sleep, Focus and Cognitive Performance

January 4, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Exercise

Don’t Drink Your Calories

December 19, 2017/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Mindset, Sleep

Sleep, Focus and Cognitive Performance

Do you wake up feeling exhausted? Or have trouble concentrating at work? Or maybe your tolerance levels are lower than usual. It might be you are not getting enough sleep.

Cognitive performance is our ability to utilise the knowledge acquired by the mental processes in our brains. A well-functioning brain controls a range of voluntary and involuntary actions, such as our sleep-wake cycle, attention, perception, mood, emotions, hunger and memory.

When you lose sleep, it interferes with the functioning of certain brain areas and people who are exposed to Sleep Deprivation usually experience a decline in cognitive performance, changes in mood, decreased reaction times, loss in free recall and in facial recognition.

While losing sleep here and there won’t have much affected, ongoing loss of sleep can have a big impact over time and can impair our ability to do well in school, at work, and in our daily life. Sleep Deprivation can make it significantly harder to focus, and pay attention and be productive. This affects school performance and job productivity.

A lack of sleep can also slow your reaction time, which makes for dangerous driving and other safety-related risks at work and at home. This can put not only your life in danger but others as well.

We also need a good sleep to achieve our best innovative thinking and problem-solving abilities. As you sleep, memories are reactivated, connections between brain cells are strengthened, and the information is transferred from short to long-term. Without enough quality sleep, we can easily forget new information, old information and even memories. Getting a good night’s sleep can be crucial for school and university students throughout their semesters.

If you’re having trouble with any of the cognitive abilities mentioned above, you maybe not getting enough sleep. Work at increasing the hours of sleep you get a night. Everyone is different as to how many hours you should get. We have lots of tips on how to improve your quality of sleep in our Ritualize program, with an entire Quest dedicated to it and a Learn section within the app accessible at all times. Check it out and set yourself the challenge of increasing the hours you get a night, and see if you notice any improvements in your work, school and daily life. Good luck!

References:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/387c/4ba8b0a5bd5533a52d63a2324f02d0183797.pdf

https://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-lack-sleep-impacts-cognitive-performance-and-focus

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656292/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackie-nagel/how-to-stay-sharp-when-youre-sleep-deprived_b_7344964.html

https://hbr.org/2006/10/sleep-deficit-the-performance-killer

January 4, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Exercise

Don’t Drink Your Calories

Australians are drinking a lot of sugar in the form of sweetened beverages. In fact, it’s the largest source of sugars in the Australian diet. What may seem like an innocent couple of cans of soft drink a day can lead to weight gain, type II diabetes and tooth decay. Take a look at the table below to see how many teaspoons of sugar are in some popular sugary drinks. And fruit juice isn’t exempt from the list. What we traditionally have perceived as a health drink is actually a glass of fructose, with the sugar levels just as high as a soft drink.

Sugar in Drinks

We use the term ‘empty calories’ when referring to the calories in sugary drinks. This means that the body and brain don’t register the body is full after drinking hundreds of calories, so you end up consuming more calories than you may have if you didn’t drink the ‘empty calories’. This may be because of the hormone ghrelin, which is in the stomach and tells the brain when you’re hungry. The catch is, it only works with solid food, not liquids. Our bodies are not designed to drink calories.

What about sugar alternatives in diet drinks? You would think they’d be fine if you’re just talking calories, but studies are starting to show a link between artificially sweetened drinks and weight gain. This could be because the sweet taste of these drinks stimulates the appetite for other sweet food so may lead to people eating more food high in sugar and calories. Although the jury is still out on artificially sweetened beverages, there’s enough association to assume they are not the healthier alternative.

What should you drink when you’re thirsty? Water will always come up trumps. Water not only doesn’t affect your waistline, it helps lift your energy levels, focus, mood, it hydrates every cell of your body and is even good for sore muscles. A good idea is to buy a good water bottle and carry it everywhere with you so you have it on-hand.

If you’re not convinced, here’s another great article on the benefits of giving up sugary drinks.

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December 19, 2017/0 Comments/by Ritualize

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Sleep, Focus and Cognitive Performance

Don’t Drink Your Calories

Sleep, Focus and Cognitive Performance

Don’t Drink Your Calories

Sleep, Focus and Cognitive Performance

Don’t Drink Your Calories

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