You might be wondering what sleep has to do with you getting your headshot taken. Well, a lot actually. Sleep has a huge impact on our daily lives. It affects many things; such as our appearance, our memory, our attitude, our awareness of our surroundings, our longevity of life, inflammation, our creativity, daily task performance, our focus, weight loss/gain, our stress and more. When we talk about sleep in association with headshot's the main topics I am concerned about are attitude, appearance, focus, and stress. These four things can and will greatly influence the outcome of your photoshoot.

If you are lacking a goodnights sleep it maybe hard for you to go into your photoshoot with a great attitude and a good level of energy. (If you haven't yet read the post on attitude and its importance for your headshot please read it here.)
Not enough good quality sleep greatly affects our appearance. It can leave our faces looking warn and tired. Mainly showing in our eyes. Most people will have dark circles, puffiness or "bags" and/or redness of the eyes.
Lack of good quality of sleep greatly diminishes your ability to focus on the task at hand. Which is making sure, with coaching we get the best possible angles and lighting of you. This makes it so that we are telling the right story of your brand.
If the first three are not enough reason for you to get a good nights rest then this fourth one should. Stress! We all have it but we can greatly lessen the amount of stress we have with a night of quality sleep. Stress is easily reflected and magnified in the camera. It shows in our eyes as well as in the tension in our lips and eyebrows.

Now that we know what we want to stay away from how do we get a great night of quality sleep? Below is the Mayo Clinic's "Sleep tips: 7 steps to better sleep."

"Stick to a sleep schedule - Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, holidays and days off."
"Pay attention to what you eat and drink - Don't go to bed either hungry or stuffed."
"Create a bedtime ritual - Do the same things each night to tell your body it's time to wind down."
"Get comfortable - Create a room that's ideal for sleeping. Often, this means cool, dark and quiet."
"Limit daytime naps - Long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep — especially if you're struggling with insomnia or poor sleep quality at night."
"Include physical activity in your daily routine - Regular physical activity can promote better sleep, helping you to fall asleep faster and to enjoy deeper sleep."
"Manage stress - When you have too much to do — and too much to think about — your sleep is likely to suffer."

*all 7 steps come from this Mayo Clinic article.

"Stick to a sleep schedule - Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, holidays and days off."

"Pay attention to what you eat and drink - Don't go to bed either hungry or stuffed."

"Create a bedtime ritual - Do the same things each night to tell your body it's time to wind down."

"Get comfortable - Create a room that's ideal for sleeping. Often, this means cool, dark and quiet."

"Limit daytime naps - Long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep — especially if you're struggling with insomnia or poor sleep quality at night."

"Include physical activity in your daily routine - Regular physical activity can promote better sleep, helping you to fall asleep faster and to enjoy deeper sleep."

"Manage stress - When you have too much to do — and too much to think about — your sleep is likely to suffer."