Akhila Kishore is a Senior Software Engineer at Cisco Umbrella. She lives in Redwood City with her husband and has a nightly ritual of writing in her gratitude journal. “It helps me realize that there are days that are cloudy and some that are sunny,” she says. “And it’s just a part of life. It’s a cycle of happy and sad.”

Numbers: how much sleep do you need to function at your best?

I need at least 7-8 hrs of sleep to function at 100%.

What does it mean for you to function at 100%?

To function at 100% means the ability to focus and have a calm mental state. When I don’t sleep too well, I get jittery, restless, and I have a lot of thoughts running in the background. It distracts me from my main focus of the day and what I’m doing at that moment. The way I approach the problem will be very different, I might make a beeline to the solution as opposed to the most optimal one.

How has your relationship with sleep changed over time?

I used to think I was really cool staying up all night, you know, eating my instant noodles while coding and finishing up my projects. But as the years have passed, and especially this year, I turned 30, there’s definitely been a mental shift to go to bed on time. I take that seriously now, and as my sleep habits have improved, I am seeing a noticeable difference in the way I feel when I wake up in the morning. I’ve been waking up early, just before my alarm goes off, and that to me, is a great start to the day.

What kind of work do you do?

I’m a software engineer, I spend my time building new features, debugging issues. Mostly problem-solving in the realm of software development.

How do you think about high performance in your field?

Delivering high-quality code, in my opinion, is not just about writing more, but assimilating what it is that we’re trying to achieve. It’s easy to get really enthusiastic and then type everything and then finish the code and get a code review. But I like to ask: can this code be repurposed into something else? How pluggable is the model? Can we swap out components without investing too much or breaking the system? These are just some standard questions that I have on top of my head while discussing an approach to problem-solving code wise. I like to think about the bigger picture and be very intentional about what I am creating.

What do you do to relax?

Before the pandemic, I will go on vacation maybe one time a month. So if I work three weeks, I give my 100% and then I take three or four days off just to go someplace that I can recuperate from all the pressure that I put on myself to be really good at what I do.

But nowadays, what I do is on weekends, I try to minimize as much TV, social media, anything that has a screen on top of it, since my job involves sitting in front of a computer. I’m not a saint, I’ll tell you that. I do watch two, three hours of TV on a weekend. The ideal thing for me is to just sit outside. I like to play this nature sounds playlist on Spotify so that while I’m sitting on my patio, I can feel like I’m out somewhere hiking in nature.

What’s your morning routine like?

I meditate every morning when I wake up for just 10 minutes before I start to work. So this is my process: I wake up, brush my teeth, and then I do a 10 min workout. After I work out, I drink my coffee, and then open Twitter and read the news for the day. Then, of course, I kind of get flustered by it, and just frustrated with all the things that are going on and realize I should not be doing this.

And then that’s when I go and I meditate. I use Headspace. I choose something depending on what I’m feeling that day. Sometimes it’s the focus playlist, sometimes it’s prioritization, some days it’s just being there and observing your thoughts without being judgemental of it. I tend to do 10 minutes of meditation and then I’m ready for my first call of the day.

What do you like to do during your sleep buffer zone?

My husband and I have a ritual that we’re not supposed to watch TV one hour before bed. And that is kind of on and off with this pandemic. It’s not set. We’re working on it. I like to talk to my mom for 5-10 minutes.

I write a gratitude journal every night. I just keep it by the side of my bed. On some days when I feel really low before going to bed, I just go back and look at the days that made me happy. And if I feel happy, I just write a sentence about why I feel happy – just a sentence. It helps me realize that there are days that are cloudy and some that are sunny, and it’s just a part of life. It’s a cycle of happy and sad.

I use my kindle or listen to something on audible, and I usually swap between the two. Depending on what I’m reading, I take maybe 20 minutes to do that

What have you been reading recently?

I’ve been switching between Little Women and Educated. I read Little Women back in high school, but I wasn’t really serious about it then, it was just like, let me get this done. But now I feel like I’m really enjoying it.

What do you not allow in your buffer zone?

My husband and I don’t like to talk about work when we’re about to go to bed because we’ve noticed in the past that our minds keep working even after we’re done with the conversation. So if I talk about a problem that I was faced with a bug or something at work, my husband and I would just be sitting and talking and trying to debug it in our heads. And that kept me up at night more than I thought it would.

Anything you do during the day that has a big impact on your sleep quality and your general wellness?

I love to go boxing, and it helps a lot. I can just punch out my frustrations into that bag. Sometimes, I go with a trainer inside the ring. It is really intentional because if you don’t pay attention and you miss what is happening in the present, there’s a good chance you’re going to get punched in the face or gut!

I also used to do a lot of weightlifting, though I haven’t been able to find weights anywhere in California right now. So I just do bodyweight exercises for now. I just try to move it as much as possible for 60 minutes so that I’m really sweating and worked up.