Everyone needs a good night’s rest in order to focus better the next day.
Unfortunately, it’s very easy to adopt bad sleeping habits-with or without knowledge.
Quick question – how often do you spend time with your phone before bed? Many times, right? In case you didn’t know, smartphones emit blue light that delays the production of sleep hormones.
But that’s just one of the few blunders you make that deny you a good slumber.
This results in you waking up the next morning fatigued and unrefreshed. As someone who spends the whole day detailing cars (while sometimes on the move), a good rest is certainly well deserved.
In this article, we are going to share a few best sleep hacks that car detailers can adopt in order to sleep like the dead.
Forget about magic pills, magic pillows, essential oils, and portions…Those are far-fetched marketing gimmicks meant to trick you part with your hard-earned money. Without further ado, let’s get into practical tips that can turn your disturbed nights into havens of peace.
Practical Sleep Hacks for Auto Detailers
Ready to roll? Camera, lights, action…
1. Diet
Don’t eat close to bedtime why? Gastric juices are up in arms breaking down food for digestion and this can become really uncomfortable for an hour or two (part of your precious sleeping time).
As for the quality of food, you should avoid anything that is spicy, with too much sugar or saturated fat. Such a diet is associated with less restorative sleep. Note this, you need to observe a proper diet throughout the day not just in the evening.
Do you like booze? We know it makes you sleep like a log but the truth is, the quality won’t be that good and you are likely to wake up feeling all twisty like cooked spaghetti. If you must drink, do that early and in moderation.
2. Watch that caffeine
It gets boring after hours of buffing, waxing, or fixing a dent. The mind starts to retract and the possibility of doing a shoddy job increases. Then it strikes you-Coffee! Guess what, it will give you the kick you need to get a few more cars detailed.
Here’s what you possibly don’t know; coffee has a half-life of 6 hours. That means it will take up to 12 hours for it to be entirely eliminated from your body. Did we mention coffee is a diuretic? It makes you want to pee most of the time. So if you must get coffee, do so before the lunch hour.
3. Dim your lights and decrease blue light
Melatonin is the hormone responsible for drowsiness and it adjusts in amount depending on the light. When it gets dark, the body produces melatonin so you can fall asleep. So it’s best to have heavy curtains on your windows to block out street and security lights.
If you’ll want to move around at night for bathroom sessions, then keep your lights dim or have a small flashlight nearby. This ensures melatonin flow is not reduced and therefore you can catch your sleep right away.
Speaking of light, you need to stay away from your phone, kindle readers, television, and other devices. They emit blue light which disrupts the flow of melatonin. Besides that, consuming exciting media at night will keep you awake some more which is why the best thing to do is listen to music or audiobooks.
Related: Check Out the Best Sleep Masks to help you transition to sleep faster.
4. Turn off cell phone alerts
Late-night calls and messages are definitely unwarranted interruptions. This is your only time to unwind and rejuvenate. By the way, you don’t have to turn your phone off. Just make use of the ‘do not disturb’ mode and you’ll be good to go.
What if there is an emergency? Well, some phones allow customization of the ‘do not disturb’ mode so some calls from loved ones can get through.
5. Cool your room
A hot bedroom will most certainly lower the quality of sleep. So make sure the room is cool enough and is well ventilated.
6. No pets 🙁
Yes, you love your pet so much but some of those furry friends get naughty at night and will wake you up. And you really don’t want that to happen especially if you have so much trouble falling back to sleep. So keep your pets in their cages or simply lock them out of your bedroom.
7. Stay the heck out of your head
Quite frankly, this is easier said than done. Someone who runs a busy detailing shop and has a family is likely to have a lot to think about during bedtime. You got contracts to draw up, restocking plans, payments to be made, bad reviews…and heaven knows what else.
So as you can see, it will be tempting to want to worry about your problems, plans, or dreams late at night. But for the sake of your sleep, try meditating and you’ll find yourself drifting to slumberland.
8. Beddings matter
A comfortable sleep will also depend on the type of bedding you sleep on. We really can’t tell you the best material, although cotton might be great for the pillows. The right approach here is to experiment with foam and other varieties until you find the perfect choice.
9, Keep the noise down
Yeah, that goes without saying, right?
10. Get your business in order
This is a bit of a turn but the truth is, if your car detailing business is running badly, then you won’t sleep well at night. Sometimes all it takes is to delegate your work so a lot can be accomplished.
But delegation means more labor and more payout right? If you are on a tight budget, then you can resort to auto detailing software to handle everything in one place from marketing, accounting to invoicing. Instead, if you are always on the move and providing remote services, mobile detailing software would be more ideal for you.
The bottom line here is, if you streamline your business operations, you can peacefully sleep at night knowing there are huge causes for concern.
Get under the wraps then!
There are many reasons why you should prioritize your sleep. The most important ones have to do better physical and mental health. So if you neglect this aspect of your life, not only will your productivity decline but you will also be staring down a dark hole.
Try to always stick to a better sleep routine and be disciplined. If you observe the sleep hacks we have discussed in this article, you will never have problems hitting the hay and your day times will always be fruitful. Enjoy your slumbers, won’t you?
This is a guest post by Ashley Johnson, who drives content strategy at DetailProPOS, a cutting-edge cloud-based software solution for auto detailers and mobile detailers.
A hardcore sleepaholic who evangelises the love for sleep @sleeperlust!