The effect of sleep deprivation on the body and mind is well documented with poor sleep being linked to physical problems such as a weakened immune system and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.* Adults who sleep less than six hours a night also have a 13% higher mortality risk.**
Research indicates that 20% of road accidents involve a driver with fatigue, and these accidents are 50% more likely to result in death or serious injury.***
Amazon best-selling author, tech-preneur, global media industry leader, mother of four and insuppressibly alpha female, Bianca Best, knows only too well how supposed ‘extreme productivity’ coupled with a lack of sleep and value compromise can be destructive and lead to cycles of burnout.
Bianca Best says, “Across two decades of personally chasing unrealistic success ideologies I squashed my authentic nature and repeatedly cracked in the wake of frenzied productivity becoming immobilised by immune collapse.
“I misguidedly came to believe that I could function on forty minutes of sleep a night. I remember one night setting my alarm for 2.00AM to do two hours of work before racing back to bed, snatching a couple more hours before the alarm went off again at 6.00AM so I could get my exhausted self up to London. Even my sleep was adrenaline filled and had an agenda! And I wondered why I kept burning out. {{Only once I studied sleep and recognised the cost of disregarding bedtime did my life start to transform}}.”
Four years ago, Bianca Best broke the cycle, finding a life that blends work, family, passions, friends, fitness and spirituality into a harmonious whole. Using her personal experiences, she has written her best-selling book “Flourish” to advise high-attaining women how to achieve balance. She uses her Energy-SCAPE™ model to outline six key transformational steps to achieve maximum impact without burnout.
Bianca Best has learned to revere rest and she now recognises the phenomenal healing power of sleep. She is well qualified to advise women that having it all without burnout is a modern myth.
Bianca Best’s Guide to Restorative Sleep
Create a haven
Make sure your bedroom is a sleep sanctuary. Ensure your mattress, pillows, duvet and your sheets make you feel totally wonderful.
Beware the blue light
Avoid screens as you wind down before sleep. Devices emit light of all colours, but it’s the blues in particular that pose a danger to sleep. Blue light prevents the release of melatonin, a hormone associated with night-time tranquillity that reduces alertness and makes sleep more inviting. Beware! Teenagers with bedrooms resembling NASA’s control centre have the worst possible conditions for deep, rejuvenating sleep.
Soak in an aromatherapy bath
Scents have power to evoke emotions and memories instantly and can directly affect our bodies through our nervous system. Aromatherapy is a complementary medicine practice that taps into the healing power of scents from essential oils to balance your mind, body and spirit.
No food after 8pm
If food is fuel why on earth do you need fuel as your body begins to shut down for the day? After a meal your body is in digestion mode, which means it’s working, it’s stimulated, it’s producing gastric acids, and still alert and functioning, which hinders sleep.
Read
It’s heaven to dive into the pages of a book and escape the day. Deliberately detach your mind from work, the kids, the house and trigger your imagination, snuggle up and lose yourself.
Silence
Savour peace and quiet. Enjoy the spiritual growth that blooms amid silence. Tune into yourself. Listen to your intuition. Switch everything off and just be.
Reflection
Choose a winding-down routine that works for you. Build in time at the end of each day to become present and still, by whatever means. Perhaps journaling every night before sleep. By letting thoughts flow and reflecting on the day and observing what you did well, what you could have done better; and considering what the next day holds, what you’re grateful for and who you send love to can be considered a form of therapy. Create whatever feels right for you.
Ends
Sources:
* https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/sleep-report
** https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2018/01/30/is-lack-o...
*** https://www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/drivers/fatigue/roa...
Copies of the book Flourish by Bianca Best (published by Rethink Press at £12.99) are available for review.
For further information, please refer to the new book Flourish by Bianca Best (published by Rethink Press at £12.99). In addition, the author runs courses and workshops, including a retreat in Portugal in September 2020.
Media information provided by Famous Publicity. For further information please contact Mary-Jane Rose at mary-jane@famouspublicity.com or Tina Fotherby at tina@famouspublicity.com or call the office on 0333 344 2341.
Bianca’s Transformational Six Step Energy-SCAPE™ Programme to achieve balance and flourish.
1. Energy
Embrace your personal Productivity Balance System by examining and honouring your personal energetic flow. Identify what energises you, drains you and how to tune in to your highest vitality.
2. Self-Awareness
Growth always begins from within. Understand the delicate nature and richness of your polarities, how to identify and honour your values, learn to observe your mind, detach from ego and how to introduce consciousness as an intrinsic, revelatory aspect of your daily life.
3. Cleansing
Every transformational journey includes a stage of shedding that which drains you. Learn to recognise what is failing to serve you positively and how to eliminate it from your life. From excess stimulus, to people, to habits, evaluate where spiritual, mental, emotional or physical clutter busting will enhance your happiness and productivity.
4. Action
Learn how to responsibly achieve balance and success by consciously committing to strategic action. Understand the power of decision and the empowerment that intentionality brings. Harness habits for exceptional living and create routines that move you towards your goals shifting you into unconscious competence.
5. Play
There are both neurological and psychological benefits to entering states of free-flowing fun and creativity. Reconnect with your inner child when hedonistic pursuits were inspiring, propelling and made every moment an adventure. Consciously plan in fun, frivolity, downtime and laughter therapy into your life and unleash new levels of abundance.
6. Enrichment
Life offers so much opportunity for invigoration. From endless learning potential, to kindness, to retreats, to conscious thought, discover new ways to enrich your life. Find your why in everything you do and honour it. Once you achieve this level of inspired awareness there won’t be any more segregation and need for balance pursuit as work and play will be one beautiful, continuous blend of pure, harmonious living.
Retreat Footage July 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugAn0DvhKu4&feature=youtu.be
Useful links:
Flourish https://amzn.to/2G8cdyy
Bianca Best website: http://biancabest.com/
The Energy-SCAPE™ Programme: http://biancabest.com/energy-scape/
Your Life Hack website, authored by Bianca https://www.yourlifehack.com/
Bianca Best on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BiancaBest1
Bianca Best on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biancabest_/
Bianca Best on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/biancabest/
About Bianca Best:
Bianca Best is an award-winning advertising agency executive, entrepreneur, mother of four – and a living example of balance. She began her career in journalism and moved into advertising before starting her own technology business from home whilst looking after her young children. After an exhilarating decade before her business sale, more recently she has embraced a global leadership role in the world’s largest media agency running an emerging technology division. Bianca continues to describe her CV as a chronology of passions explored and has a personal mission to create business cultures rich with empowerment, productivity and kindness.
A certified leadership coach, hypnotherapist and neuro linguistic practitioner, Bianca is dedicated to energising and motivating ambitious individuals to maximise their impact. She teaches that with conscious and intentional living, balance, joy and optimal productivity are all achievable. Bianca empowers women to flourish as their best selves by hosting wellbeing events both privately and for large corporates such as Amazon; through keynotes at global conferences such as Women in Silicon Valley; through individual coaching; and by offering inspiring insight and effective female-oriented life hacks on www.biancabest.com and Bianca’s own woman-to-woman skill share site www.yourlifehack.com.
![Bianca Best - "Flourish"](https://mediaserver.responsesource.com/press-release/126232/Flourish+by+Bianca+Best+%28Book+Co.jpg "Bianca Best - "Flourish"")