One of the longest “weekends” in the year is upon us!

We’re excited and we’re sure you are too!

To be fair, going to have a good time with friends and family seems like the logical first step but we want to make the argument as to why it shouldn’t be.

For a change, we should be more intentional about rest and relaxation.

One study found that when people average four hours of sleep a night for four or five days, they develop the same level of cognitive impairment as if they’d been awake for 24 hours—the equivalent of being legally drunk in some countries. Within ten days, the level of impairment matches that of going 48 hours without sleep. Sleep deprivation greatly lengthens reaction time, impedes judgment, and interferes with problem solving. Not sleeping enough makes it impossible to pay optimal attention.

We are cognisant of the fact that this is easier said than done as our realities may differ, but it is important for us to make out time to rest, because when we do eventually exhaust ourselves, our bodies will decide for us that it has had enough.

We can integrate rest into our daily routine. Research shows that power naps of 10-15 minutes aids productivity in the work place.

Hence, our emphasis on sleep. Sleep is the way our body recharges and repairs.

Good sleep is critical to lifting our mood and improving our mental health. It also strengthens and solidifies memories. During certain stages of sleep, the part of your brain associated with learning and forming new memories works closely with another part of the brain to encode and strengthen long-term memory. Scientists recommend an average of 8 hours of sleep each day.

It is not our intention to bore you with a long lecture on the many benefits of good sleep, We only seek to encourage you to seize this opportunity to kickstart a new habit of mindfully resting and sleeping well.

Sleep isn’t a luxury or a time-wasting event, it is a necessity for our collective well-being.

On a lighter note, salaries have just been paid, so the temptation to go out and have a good time is ever greater. Another benefit of sleeping is zero debit alerts.