In my two decades of entrepreneurship, certain habits never lose relevance. Trends in technology, business models, and strategies change, but the fundamentals of human biology remain the same. One such fundamental is how and when we rest. I’ve always admired the discipline and resilience of centenarians. In researching their lifestyle, I stumbled across a fascinating practice they religiously follow: going to bed at the same time every night. Surprising? Perhaps not. But its impact is far-reaching.
Why is this evening habit so effective? Researchers exploring centenarian populations in Blue Zones and similar longevity studies emphasize the significance of consistent sleeping patterns. This simple ritual strengthens resilience across essential systems: cognitive health, emotional regulation, immunity, and even longevity.
What Makes This Habit Powerful?
1. The Science of Circadian Rhythms
Your body operates on a 24-hour internal clock, regulating sleep, energy levels, and even digestion. The circadian rhythm thrives on consistency. When disrupted, it negatively affects your hormonal balance, particularly cortisol and melatonin. Research from Scientific Reports in 2025 highlights how irregular sleep significantly raises risks of chronic conditions, including heart disease and dementia.
Regular sleep times normalize physiological functions, effectively training your body to better perform its repair processes. This is not a morning meditation gimmick but a foundational biological program built into our evolution.
2. Emotional Stability Through Routine
Centenarian interviews repeatedly show an overlap between their sleeping patterns and reduced anxiety levels. The predictability of their daily schedules yields emotional calm, shielding them from unnecessary stress. They wake up refreshed and start their day with defined objectives, often something as “mundane” as tending a garden or taking a morning walk.
From my perspective as a startup founder, this stability is priceless. Entrepreneurs live buzzing with a million ideas, an unpredictable sleep pattern only fuels that chaos. Add deadlines, caffeine-fueled late nights, and the electronic “dopamine disruptions” of screens, and you are welcoming mental burnout.
3. Better Physical Health
Data from Nature's longevity sleep studies proves that sticking to the same bedtime improves cardiovascular health and reduces inflammation. Over 20 years of retrospective population studies show how this habit compounds to prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s and arthritis.
How Can Entrepreneurs Embrace This Habit?
It might sound trivial, but for entrepreneurs, building this habit is no small feat. I know firsthand how tricky it is amidst busy schedules, late calls, or never-ending work. But some tangible steps helped me anchor this practice into my routine:
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Establish a Wind-Down Hour
Dim lights, avoid screens, and do calming activities like journaling, reading, or listening to music. This signals your brain it's time to slow down. -
Set an Alarm for Sleep, Not Just Waking Up
Treat your bedtime like an unmissable meeting. I set a daily calendar reminder with 30 minutes to spare, when I ignore that, it’s equivalent to pushing back priorities the next morning. -
Control Food and Caffeine Intake Post-Dinner
Centenarians swear by early dinners and limited post-dinner snacking. Heavy meals late into the evening disrupt sleep onset. On busy nights, I still aim to eat by 7:30 pm. -
Practice Digital Decluttering
I place my phone on airplane mode an hour before bed. This one habit alone dramatically improved my sleep quality and helped me reset for focused mornings.
The Pitfalls to Avoid
Starting a new habit often means unlearning old ones. Here’s where I, and many around me, have faltered in maintaining a consistent bedtime schedule:
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Living By External Clocks
An entrepreneur might extend their day based on clients or team schedules in different time zones. Unplanned meetings often felt inevitable, until I started saying “no” to late calls unless they were truly urgent. -
Social Pressure
Staying out late to “network more” or attending events can knock routines off track. I’ve been guilty of this until I realized that overextending myself left lasting fatigue. Prioritize relationships but stick to your boundaries. -
Treating Weekends as Cheating Zones
Following your bedtime consistently, even on weekends, cements the body’s natural rest signals. Messing it up can leave you struggling with “social jet lag” on Monday mornings.
A Broader Perspective on Resilience
In entrepreneurship, resilience is often a buzzword. We talk about pivoting, hustling through challenges, or learning from mistakes. But resilience is first and foremost physical and mental. The nervous system grounded in a stable circadian rhythm recovers faster when things go wrong. Your clarity improves, decisions are sharper, and crises feel like opportunities instead of calamities.
Centenarians exemplify this slow but steady compounding effect. Starting small habits early in life, or committing to them later during recalibration, is transformative. As a solopreneur and tech-business strategist, I’ve found this process invaluable.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurs often tinker with tools, apps, and daily hacks to gain an edge. Few stop and examine whether the core biological habits that drive longevity and energy are aligned. As straightforward as it sounds, consistently going to bed at the same time creates ripple effects across both personal health and business productivity. It’s not glamorous. It won’t earn you applause at work or boost your LinkedIn clout. But it works.
Want to last the distance, whether building a unicorn startup or simply thriving through the decades? Start with the basics. Learn more about how longevity tips from centenarians, like maintaining sleep consistency, play a role in overall success at Blue Zones insights.
You’ll find that success is often less about what you can change, and more about what you can ground yourself in. This is one habit I wish I had learned earlier in my own journey.
FAQ
1. What is the evening habit centenarians consistently follow?
Centenarians worldwide follow the habit of going to bed at the same time every night, which improves resilience in aging and strengthens overall body systems, including cognitive and emotional health. Read the full article on Silicon Canals
2. How does a consistent bedtime impact health?
A regular bedtime regulates circadian rhythms, promoting hormonal balance (like cortisol and melatonin), which in turn helps physical repair processes and mental health. Dive into longevity research on Sleep and Blue Zones
3. What role do circadian rhythms play in aging?
Circadian rhythms, when kept consistent through routines, reduce risks of cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and inflammation. See findings in Nature’s 2025 sleep study
4. Does sleep consistency influence emotional stability?
Yes, adhering to predictable bedtime routines lowers stress and anxiety levels, fostering a calm emotional state. This emotional resilience helps centenarians maintain healthier lives. Learn about emotional stability and longevity
5. Are there studies linking bedtime rituals to chronic disease prevention?
Yes, studies indicate consistent sleep patterns can prevent Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and other chronic diseases. Explore population studies in Nature
6. What bedtime practices can entrepreneurs adopt for better sleep patterns?
Entrepreneurs can adopt habits like setting fixed sleep alarms, establishing wind-down hours, controlling screen time, and limiting caffeine in the evenings. Find tips for sleep routines from Silicon Canals
7. Why should weekends not disrupt consistent sleeping patterns?
Maintaining the same bedtime even on weekends helps avoid "social jet lag," ensuring the body’s natural rhythm remains intact for better health and productivity. Discover why consistency is key on Blue Zones insights
8. How does sleep routine consistency enhance resilience for entrepreneurs?
With a consistent sleep schedule, entrepreneurs experience better cognitive clarity, decision-making, and stress management, even under high-pressure environments. Read entrepreneurial health advice in Silicon Canals
9. Do centenarians follow other habits to complement their bedtime routine?
Yes, centenarians often integrate early dinners, light evening physical activity, and a focus on hobbies like gardening. These habits align with their sleep routines for holistic health. See more secrets in Jinfiniti’s study
10. What societal challenges make consistent sleep harder today?
Modern distractions, such as late-night screen time, irregular work hours, and social obligations, significantly challenge sleep consistency, unlike the simpler routines of centenarians. Learn about modern sleep barriers in Silicon Canals
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.