10 Sleep Tips for Supply Chain Managers
Reduce your daily work pains by getting to know your bed better…!
It’s 7.46 am and you’re sitting at your desk, your daily planner is chockers and your admin support have already started doubling-up your “must do today… or else” meetings.
Your phone is constantly vibrating like it’s having an epic seizure… because people want to dump their problems on you as quick as they can handpass the footy before getting crash tackled by a 180 kg centre-half back!
And you feel like crap… tired, grumpy, irritable.
Jay, your operations manager walks in and starts going on and on about the latest stuff up on the warehouse floor last night and wants you to deal with it – like… why me?
Your “primitive “part of your brain kicks in and… you explode!
How’s ya sleep going, want some tips?
- Your body loves a good routine
Start an evening ritual so that your brain recognises you are getting ready to sleep, get your PJ’s on, clean your teeth at a particular time.
Get up at the same time; even on the weekends… yeah I know that one sucks!
Heard of Jet Lag? You don’t even have to leave home.
Stay up late Friday night, sleep in Saturday morning, Do a “Real” late one Saturday night “coz you’re an 18 yr. old again,
Sleep in till Sunday lunch, then struggle big time when that 5.45am alarm screams at you to get your butt outta bed Monday morning! Fun hey!
- Turn you damn TV, Smartphone and Tablet OFF hours before bed!
You know that social media doesn’t stop… there’s always your cousins first born child’s monumental first-steps on YouTube that ya gotta look at. Or your LinkedIn group chatter about ‘the best bully busting tactics”.
Read some fiction, look at a travel brochure, talk to the person next to you… then go to sleep.
- Get rid of the Floodlight!
If you read in bed, bung in a 20 watt lightbulb, or better still a fridge lightbulb anything that mimics the power output of a caveman candle.
Lights over 40 watts stimulate our brains and that’s what we don’t want when trying to induce sleep – same reason why electronic blue light-emitting things suck before bedtime.
4. Caffeine – yeah we love it… so just leave it alone!
That’s right… in the mornings only! Especially if you are sensitive to it.
This stuff is wonderful for creating short bursts of energy, but like any drug “what goes up… must come down”. It also messes up stress hormones, so ease up on the late arvo double shots.
This drug can hang around your system for 6-12 hours, so if you like listening to your partner snore, get another short black into you after dinner!
- The stuff fish swim in…
Yup, that’s right good ole fashioned water… minimum of 2-3 litres a day depending on what you’re up to.
- Liquid in fancy bottles and cans
You know what I’m talking about… it’s the stuff that humankind has taken a shine to over thousands of years – Alcohol.
Yeah sure it can help put you to sleep, but plays havoc big time with the quality and quantity of your sleep. I mean really… have you ever woken up refreshed after drinking?
Do I need to say more… well unless you’re an alcoholic, and that then becomes a whole different conversation?
- Who you sleepin’ with?
So your partner is HOT, well lucky you, or maybe you poor thing!
Did they buy the 15 tog duvet and memory foam mattress that slowly roasts you all night long? Waking up sweating, tossing and turning?
Well here’s an easy fix: Buy 2 king singles stick ‘em together, they get the Arctic-proof duvet and “basting” mattress while you happily get a good firm bed with “sensible” cotton blankets.
8. An occupied mind
So this one is a biggy to deal with, because it’s different for everyone and dependent on what’s going on in your life at any given time.
Be it: Marriage probs
Wayward teenage kids
Mortgage payments
And…
Your Job!
There are lots of techniques around managing thoughts and stress which I’ll cover in a future article.
- Unsticking the Velcro from your butt and chair
It’s called exercise, walking, swimming, riding, chasing the kids around the house.
Or trying to put your teenage son down in a classic UFC submission hold on the back yard lawn…. why not, he probably deserved it! This is good for the brain – free feel-good endorphins and it’s legal. Get some today!
- Be wary of the big bad wolf…
Think twice about long term use of sleeping medication, be it the stuff your GP prescribes, or your friend’s sister gets from somewhere.
… Or even the nicely packaged bottles from your health products store or local pharmacy. They can make things worse.
So have a think about these tips, try them out, and it will have to be longer than a week or two, and yeah it means changing some parts of your life. But if its help you, then your work colleagues and subordinates will love you a just little bit more and your stress levels will drop like a thermometer in a blast freezer!
