You may find it baffling that an “evening ritual” has anything to do with your business. But it does.

This evening ritual I’m talking about has fallen to the bottom of our never-ending to-do lists because it hasn’t been respected in our culture.

However, I’ve found that it’s also one of the most important things you can do if you want to become a successful industry leader and entrepreneur.

If you are looking to increase your creativity, think clearly, make better decisions, and come up with better ideas for your business – you’ll absolutely need this ritual.

Okay, enough suspense… Have you guessed what this it is?

It’s QUALTITY sleep!

Stay with me – it may sound simplistic but sleep is the key to increasing productivity.

I was teaching the Abundant Esthetician Workshop in San Jose – if you know me, you’d know that I’m a big fan of the early morning club. I believe it’s productive for us to get our creative tasks done early in the day while we have the most energy. I got into a conversation with Angela Peck  , a wholistic esthetician, who practices near Santa Cruz, CA.  Angela enjoyed my content at the workshop and recommended the book Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson.

I finished the book, and I’m sold.

With the proper sleep, your brain can work optimally: helping you come up with better ideas, allowing you to think more clearly, and be more creative in your work.

After sending my husband off to his deployment and packing up to move from Hawaii to Tampa, FL temporarily, I was sleep-deprived for a couple of weeks. And I thought to myself, “ I’m feeling kind of stupid! I have so much work to do and I have brain fog!”

Our personal life definitely spills into our professional life because we operate within the same body. Our wellbeing has a real impact on how we do business and how we interact with our clients.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an esthetician solopreneur or an employee – with quality sleep you’ll be able to do your work more effectively and serve your clients much better.

As estheticians and spa owners, we’re in the business of serving people. When we don’t get enough sleep we could lose focus, or lose patience, or simply lose the ability to pay attention to what our clients need. Yeah…good sleep is important.

Negative Effects of Poor Sleep

Poor sleep has a negative impact on our brain which interferes with our ability to learn. Click To Tweet

According to Sleep Smarter, poor sleep can cause the body to divert approximately 12% more glucose to the brain. That’s why we tend to reach for sugary and starchy food or caffeine to give our brain a quick boost when we’re sleep-deprived. (Even when you know those foods aren’t good for you!)

Plus, our lymphatic system suffers when we don’t get enough sleep. During sleep, our cells rejuvenate and our hormones are regulated. If we don’t give our body this chance of restoration, we can’t process waste products effectively and our health is impacted.

As an esthetician, you probably also know that all of the above consequences are not only bad for our health but can also cause visible signs of aging. How can we convince our clients to trust us with their skin if we can’t even take good are of ours?

3 Tips To Improve Your Sleep

Luckily, getting good sleep isn’t rocket science. In the book Smart Sleep, Stevenson shared 21 pointers. Here are my top 3, so you can take action right away to improve your sleep, your health, and your business:

1. Get Some Sun

Say what??! This may counter everything you know as an esthetician but hear me out!

Sunlight stimulates the body to produce serotonin, which is the feel-good hormone (that’s why some of us feel sad during winter when there’s not enough sunlight.)

If you get your sun exposure between the hours of 6 am to 8 am, you’ll be able to avoid the more damaging effects on the skin. Click To Tweet

When you get your sunlight, don’t put on any sunscreen – it’ll interfere with the production of vitamin D and serotonin.

Serotonin is more than nature’s happy pill. It stays in our skin and when night falls, it’s converted into melatonin – the hormone that helps us sleep.

2. Early To Bed, Early To Rise

I’m a fan of the early morning club and encourage those who work with me to rise early to get big things done in their business while most people are still sleeping..

If you aren’t an early riser already, I recommend that you give it a shot but do so gradually. Be kind to yourself and don’t beat yourself up if your body takes some time to adjust. It’s just like getting over jet lag – you can’t expect your body to just snap into a new time zone.

Hormonal regulation in our body takes place between 10 pm and 2 am. If we aren’t giving our bodies the rest it needs during these hours, we’re messing with the system’s ability to process wastes and dump toxins.

Accumulated toxins will not only affect our skin and cause visible signs of aging but also have a negative impact on our glymphatic system, which is essentially the lymphatic system for our brain.

Needless to say, it’s really important that we give our brain a break and regulate our endocrine system. It will help us become more creative, think smarter, and make better decisions.

Did you know that the leading cause of Alzheimer’s disease is sleep deprivation? This hit home for me since I watched a family member go through this.

3. Take Magnesium Before Bed

Magnesium is the master mineral for the body and it helps us regulate other nutrients essential for health. Often times there’s really nothing wrong with us, except that we aren’t getting the right nutrients from our foods.

Even though I’m a big believer that we shouldn’t be dependent on supplements, I don’t mind taking some magnesium either topically or internally to help us get back into the rhythm.

I’m trying out a topical magnesium spray that I put on my shoulder where I carry most of my tension and it’s been quite amazing to feel the difference. I also recommend a magnesium drink by Natural Vitality, before bed that is quite delicious! I prefer the unflavored over the lemon-raspberry due to high amounts of stevia which makes it very sweet.

Ritualize Your Sleep Routine

We put everything on our calendar to make sure things get done. We should do the same to protect and prioritize our sleep routine.

We have the power to master our circumstances, so we don’t compromise this important part of keeping ourselves healthy and productive.

This article is based on a Spa Business Tip Tuesday episode – a Facebook Livestream event that happens every Tuesday at 3 pm Eastern Time.

 To get the latest and greatest tips and resources for the spa and esthetician business, like my page Facebook biz page, so you can be notified when we go live!