The First Step to Strengthen Your Foundations

Sleep.

The one thing that we can do to strengthen our foundations.

When I sleep well:

• I make better food choices
• I am more inclined to exercise or, if I force myself, I’m less likely to dog my workouts
• I am better at practicing positive interpersonal skills
• I have more resilience when things don’t go as planned
• I have the energy to get things done
• I feel I make better decisions overall.

I’m not alone.

In case you need the research:

• Terrible sleep leads to increased hunger.
  • Increased hunger often leads to poor food choices.  
• People who get enough high-quality sleep are better able to maintain a healthy weight
• Sleep has a huge impact on the development of other chronic diseases: such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and immune function.
• People with excellent sleep habits are more likely to feel like they are productive and effective. (National Sleep Foundation)
• Sleep improves decision-making, strengthens cognition, and clears out the toxins involved in neurodegenerative disorders
• Sleep also improves self-control and willpower.

Our culture, however, expects a 24/7 “always on.” attitude.  How many executives, business leaders, and other “successful” people tout how they can function on little sleep?

• 45% of Americans say that poor or insufficient sleep affected their daily activities at least 1 day out of 7. (National Sleep Foundation, 2014 Sleep Health Index.
• A common reason – smartphones and tablets. In 2015, Bank of America discovered that 71% of Americans sleep with their smartphone. Yikes!

Sleep deprivation, however, has disastrous consequences:

• Drowsy driving caused up to 72,000 accidents, up to 6,000 of those – fatal.
• Sleep deprivation is often cited as a root cause of workplace accidents, some major.
• If you are sleep deprived, your decision-making ability is drastically reduced.  Especially in a crisis.
• Sleep deprivation among employees, particularly management, hurts organizational performance.

The one thing that I feel will improve our working lives and make our workplaces more humane is prioritizing our personal sleep health.

And avoiding any manager who claims that they don’t need sleep.