Besides the stigma related to mental health, it appears that a large number of business leaders actively promote a lack of sleep, even though a number of the most successful and powerful CEOs advocate that a good nights sleep is important.
I can own up to the fact that I have not been on the right side of bed when it comes to enough sleep for a number of years now. Research by Harvard found that for the average employee a lack of sleep leads to a loss of 11.3 days productivity each year. So for a company with 15 employees that would equate to 170 days annualised!
For those who need to be creative, lack of sleep is even more damaging since it impairs innovation, self control and creativity. Not great if your job is dependant on this. Beyond the creativity studies show that being awake for 17-19 hours is the equivalent of having 0.05 blood alcohol content. Harvard Business Review research also found a link between poor leadership and lack of sleep.
Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) rates a good night sleep. "Eight hours of sleep makes a big difference for me, and I try hard to make that a priority," he tells Thrive Global. "For me, that's the needed amount to feel energized and excited."
Bill Gates has a view too - “I like to get seven hours of sleep a night because that’s what I need to stay sharp and creative and upbeat,”
“Stress prevents sleep. Sleep deprivation increases stress and its consequences.” Chris Winter, M.D. told The Huffington Post . There seems to be a vicious circle at work here.
Last year French employees won the right to not check work emails outside of working hours and 'disconnect'. Whilst I cannot say I completely agree with this, it can be far more beneficial to your team if you are mindful about setting the right standard. One of my colleagues showed me Boomerang by gmail that schedules emails.
We can all remember a time when we did not have enough sleep and how it began to have a negative impact on ourselves (let alone those we let down who rely on us in a team). Of course you must do everything with balance and also make personal sacrifices to get enough sleep (you can't blame it on work all the time!).
I have decided to do better, and like my work or running I am going to measure myself through a sleep diary. My goal will be a minimum of 7 hours a night and to do so I am going to be using a Beddit 3. I came across it on TechCrunch and then in The Apple Store recently.
I will let you know how I get on!
Mental health problems including psychotic experiences could in part be down to a lack of sleep, researchers have revealed. A new study found that people who had undertaken a course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) designed specifically to treat insomnia not only found their sleep improved, but also experienced reduced paranoia and fewer hallucinations - both psychotic experiences - as well as improvements in depression and anxiety. Teenagers' sleep quality and mental health at risk over late-night mobile phone use Researchers advise ‘physical boundaries’ over devices in bedrooms after study finds poor sleep associated with phone use linked to depressed moods
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