Insomnia, stress, and business: how Kasta founder Andriy Logvin restores sleep during crises

In a world where any crisis can turn life and business upside down, sleep often seems like a luxury rather than a survival strategy. Andriy Logvin, founder and CEO of the Kasta online marketplace, knows this firsthand. He has been through the turbulence of 2014, the pandemic, and the full-scale war, when each day was measured not by development plans, but by the ability to maintain clarity of mind and physical endurance.Andriy Logvin explains why sleep is more important to him than coffee, supplements, and motivation, and what rules he never breaks. The full conversation is for subscribers. LIGA.net. Personal experience– During the most difficult periods for Kasta – 2014 or the beginning of the full-scale war – how did you manage to recover?In critical moments, everything boils down to the basics. Body, sleep, food, movement. When everything around you is shaking, you hold on to the steel.The world may not get better tomorrow, but I can be better tomorrow than I was yesterday. Going to bed on time, eating three meals a day, exercising in the morning – all of this is within my power. Sleep is key. I turn off the noise, pick up a book, and recover.Mentally, the horizon shrinks to 30 days, sometimes to tomorrow. You take away everything superfluous, leaving only what helps you cover the distance. Physics provides support, from which endurance is born. And then – step by step.– How How did your evening ritual change during critical moments, and what helped you fall asleep?Reading is the only thing that really always works. I've tried meditations, apps, and breathing. But meditation and breathing are difficult, especially when there is turbulence in life: there is simply not enough energy and regularity for it.A book doesn't require energy. On the contrary, it gives it. Especially history, philosophy, documentaries, periods of war, difficult times – when you read how people went through it. For me, it's the best meditation.Plus, your horizons expand. You start thinking in a different vocabulary – not from a thousand words, but from ten thousand. Questions and thoughts arise that you wouldn't have come up with on your own. This is the wisdom of generations, which is much broader than your personal imagination. It seems to me that no one needs to prove the advantages of books anymore.– Have you experienced nocturnal awakenings with a racing heart or a feeling of anxiety?There were no panic attacks or night awakenings with a racing heart. There were nights when I couldn't sleep, but for me, it was more from thoughts than from anxiety. When an idea, a breakthrough, comes to me, it doesn't let go until morning.But I've long understood for myself: even if I don't get any sleep, it's not a tragedy. I don't panic because of it. Okay, I'm not sleeping, so I'll just live through tomorrow like that.Finding solutions– What are the practices for improving sleep? – lifestyle, sports, gadgets, supplements – What has proven to be most effective for you personally? I've been taking supplements for a long time; they're important, but they're a complementary thing. If you don't get enough sleep and don't do morning exercise, it doesn't matter what supplements you take—they won't fix your mental state.The key is regularity: sleep, sports, routine. Go to bed on time, move in the morning. When you have sleep and daily sports, even your nutrition will fix itself.I have all the gadgets – Oura, Whoop, Garmin – I look at the metrics, but I don't get neurotic about them: for me, regularity is more important than the numbers.A simple base works best: sleep + morning exercise. And the exercise should be varied – cardio, strength, mobility.– You keep a diary in which you record your tasks and achievements. How does this practice affect your focus, stress control, and sleep quality?I have been keeping a diary since 2009. And I do it not in the evening, but in the morning. To get involved not through the news, but through proper observations – I start the day with a diary.I was once very impressed that Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" was actually his personal diary. He wrote not for the public, but for himself, on campaigns, during the war. You observe, think, live, and record – and through this, you consolidate your experience.I've been using Day One for 15 years. It has a feature that shows what you wrote on this very day in all previous years. And you look: what you were thinking about, how you saw the world, where you were naive, where you already understood something. This really brings the context together.In the morning, I write reflections about yesterday, thoughts from books, and questions that won't let me go. You take everything out of your head and put it outside – and it stops spinning in the background. Focus appears, and the internal noise subsides. And when your head is in order, your body falls asleep much more easily.– When the realization came that it was a dream– Is this not a "waste of time," but a tool for self-management as a leader? Yes, this came from experimentation. Not from books, not from advice, but from feelings and numbers. When trackers like Oura, Whoop, and all these sensors appeared, you suddenly see that without sleep, your metrics break down worse than from alcohol. In terms of how you feel, it's as if you've been out partying and drinking all night, but in reality, you just didn't get enough sleep.You look at the numbers and see how sleep affects your body, your head, and your ability to make decisions. When you wake up in the "green zone," when you're ready to move mountains, it's a completely different quality of you.And you start to approach it very pragmatically: what needs to be done in the evening, when to turn off your phone, when to read, when to go to bed, how much to sleep to be in a state in the morning where you are really effective. Because if you are in such a state, you can do a lot.Therefore, the realization is simple: sleep is not about rest, it's about self-management. About the quality of thinking, energy, and decisions. It's a tool. And it's probably one of the most powerful.Practical conclusions– What are 2–3 sleep rules that you now consider inviolable, even during periods of high workload?The first rule. – "There's no great day without a great evening." The evening is preparation for tomorrow: eat before 6 PM, turn off gadgets at 8–9 PM, go to bed at 9:30–10 PM, and get 7.5–8 hours of sleep. Then, at six in the morning, you're ready to live, not just survive.Second – Sleep is more important than any stimulants. Neither coffee, nor supplements, nor pills can fix sleep deprivation. If you haven't slept, everything falls apart: food, focus, emotions, decisions.And third– Sleep as a cleansing process. Like intermittent fasting for the brain and body. It cleanses, balances, and prepares for the next day. Therefore, even under a heavy workload, sleep is inviolable.– What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who live in a state of "constant stress" and have been ignoring their sleep problems for years?Entrepreneurs are people who restrain themselves, constantly take on loads, and go where no one has gone before. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And the main thing here is physical strength: a person can withstand any mental load if they are physically ready. Without this, even the coolest solutions and ideas will not work, because the body will not endure. Therefore, restoring physical strength – whether you want to or not – is the foundation. Sleep is part of this foundation.What advice can I give? Just observe yourself, feel the difference between when you've slept and when you haven't. After that, you'll intuitively understand: there are no other options. If you live in a sleep-deprived state for too long, your body and mind simply won't be able to handle it. Sleep is your tool for survival and effectiveness.Read also"Monobank doesn't see us in fintech, and we don't see them in retail," – an interview with the founder of Kasta

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