There will be times when the outcome of a life-changing event is unknowable until the last minute, or when the stakes are high and the outcome will be determined largely by your skills and strategies. Buying a house, taking final exams and completing a big business deal are good examples.
In these situations, it’s not surprising that the tension and anticipation interfere with your ability to sleep. What is amazing, however, is that you’ll notice little, if any, distress at the time. However,, even so, you’ll still want to find ways to help yourself sleep more restfully, simply because you won’t want your abnormal state of wakefulness to affect your judgment and performance.
Most of you can get away with this for short periods of time. When you’re in emergency mode, you can sleep very little without suffering any ill effects. However, should the situation become prolonged (that is, go on for more than two or three weeks without a break), you may start to find that your judgment and your ability to concentrate are affected.
It’s wise, therefore, to take compensatory action of some sort. Power naps are probably the most effective technique to use, and I’ll talk about these later.
