5 Ways For Businesses To Harness The Power of Sleep
What if businesses challenged their sleep culture, would that elevate performance?
“Sleep is a basic human need and is essential for good health, good quality of life and performing well during the day.” — World Health Organisation
In 2009, Arianna Huffington received a wake-up call. After working herself into sleep deprivation, she awoke on her desk in a pool of her blood with a broken jaw. In her words, “When I’m exhausted, I’m running on empty. I’m the worst version of myself. I’m more reactive. I’m less empathetic. I’m less creative. And all of us can testify to that.”
Working as a doctor in Lifestyle Medicine and Occupational Medicine, I have witnessed the restorative power of a deep night’s sleep.
I used to struggle with deep sleep — who else feels groggy on a Monday morning and frazzled on a Friday evening?
Feeling unrefreshed led me to overhaul my sleep habits to excellent effect.
Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, journaling, becoming meticulous about light and meditation all improved the quality of my sleep.
“Take a simple idea and take it seriously”. — Charlie Munger
Many of us are aware of these helpful habits, but what is stopping us from prioritising sleep?
I would argue it is due to our sleep. According to Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, we are more likely to behave in harmony with the tribe than against it; even if that means acting in ways harmful to our health.
We spend approximately one-third of our hours asleep and over one-third of our waking hours at work. Let’s change the company sleep culture and watch our performance soar.
If you are struggling with sleep right now, I feel for you. Deep sleep eludes the majority of us; two thirds (67%) of UK adults suffer from disrupted sleep, and nearly a quarter (23%) manage no more than five hours a night.
Whether you are an employer or an employee, we all want more openness, creation, innovation and dedication; sleep can help.
What is the effect of sleep deprivation on the economy?
Sleep deprivation is thought to cost the UK economy up to £40 billion per year, close to 2% of their gross domestic product. Marco Hafner of RAND Europe explains “if those who sleep under six hours a night increase their sleep to between six and seven hours a night, this could add £24 billion to the UK economy.”
What is the effect of sleep loss on employee’s performance?
Easy tasks
A 2003 study by Mindy Engle-Friedman demonstrated the effect of sleep loss on effort. When we are sleep deprived, we are more likely to choose a less challenging task. In a world that is moving faster by the second, embracing challenge is a vital skill to help your career and your businesses thrive.
Go hiding
“Social loafing describes the tendency of individuals to put forth less effort when they are part of a group.”
A 1998 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology demonstrates how sleep loss increases social loafing. In successful teams, we want unity and togetherness. Instead of blaming employees for their performance, we can start to look for the root causes and sleep may be one of them.
Deviant behaviour
Research from Professor Christopher Barnes from the University of Washington notes that a lack of sleep leads to higher levels of unethical behaviour. The effects of unethical behaviour could be devastating for a business.
Our pre-frontal cortex is vital to aid with self-control. However, during periods of sleep deprivation, the pre-frontal cortex is drained of its primary fuel source. Therefore, prioritising sleep can be instrumental in avoiding serious incidents at work.
What actions can employers take to shift their sleep culture?
1. Challenge the BRULES
Vishen Lakhiana, CEO of Mindvalley, speaks about challenging BRULES. A BRULE is a rule we no longer take on through conscious choice but through imitation and conditioning.
Here are some common BRULES about sleep:
Sleep is for lazy people.
Sleep is for wimps.
Flexible working will reduce profits.
Prioritising sleep will reduce productivity.
My body and mind do not need sleep.
It starts with us. The Health and Safety at Work Act states an employer must have a safe system of work. Why not go one step further? Let’s move from an attitude of safety to one of nurturing. Let’s mould workplaces to harness all of our innate skills and drive innovation. Is that not what we all want?
2. Laud Sleep
Imagine a workplace where your sleep was incentivised. Companies like Aetna and Crazy Inc both reward their employees for prioritising sleep. If you work at Crazy Inc in Japan, you could earn up to $570 per year for regularly sleeping more than 6 hours as confirmed by a sleep tracker.
I do not feel it is necessary to attach financial rewards to sleep; instead, we need a shift of company culture. We need leaders who make quality sleep a non-negotiable for high performance. They can lead by example by switching off from e-mails in the evenings and giving themselves adequate recovery from travel.
3. Flexible working
Dr Michael Breus author and sleep specialist, notes how chronotypes affect your energy levels and sleep.
“When you work with [your chronotype], you can sleep better at night, feel more energised during the day.” — Dr. Michael Breus
“Your chronotype is a classification of when your genetic propensity is to sleep. It’s determined by the PER3 gene.” He believes there are four chronotypes which he calls bears, lions, wolves and dolphins.
· Lions are early risers
· Wolves struggle to sleep early and are productive in the evenings
· Bears are most active in daylight hours — they can stay up late and get up reasonable early
· Dolphins are light sleepers and are prone to waking from noise.
Working in Occupational Medicine, I frequently recommend employers offer flexible working as a way of managing the employee’s recovery from an illness. What if we did not wait for the health condition to arise? What if we could give employees time autonomy? Leave them free to work when it suits them as long as they produce quality work and attend meetings.
9–5 office work is antiquated — let’s use science to unleash the next level of performance.
4. Meetings
Let’s make morning meetings obsolete.
For us to show up fully present, rational, and emotionally flexible, our pre-frontal cortex needs to be online. We already know that sleep loss our drains our pre-frontal cortex of energy. Research shows that approximately 1 in 5 of us are the Wolf chronotype.
We want meetings to be important, to matter and to set positive intentions. If we have colleagues “offline” we are missing an opportunity for high performance. Let’s exclusively set meetings for the middle of the day that will suit all chronotypes.
5. Learn from the best
There are some forward-thinking companies out there; Nike and Google both enable employees to work with their chronotypes. Napping at work is becoming more accepted as people are becoming more aware of the benefits of productivity.
I would recommend a simple strategy — a regular sleep course for all companies. We all deserve quality sleep; it is a basic human need. Let’s challenge the current culture and start to embrace sleep for the wondrous process it is.
Originally published at https://www.drsatguru.com on August 14, 2020.
