The Impact of Quality Sleep on Performance...and My Quest to Find it

I've never been a very good sleeper.  My mom will tell you horror stories of me as a baby and I can remember, from the time I was 5 or 6, sitting in the dark living room, very early in the morning waiting on everyone else to wake up and take me to school.  

As an adult with a very full personal and professional life, I've always been willing to sacrifice sleep to prioritize everything else: wife & kids, work, exercise, social time with friend, etc.  In fact, for many years I've even prided myself on the fact that "I just don't need that much sleep".  I typically get about 6 hours of sleep a night.  On a bad night though, I might get only 4 or so.  

My problem isn't falling asleep.  I do that within a few minutes of hitting the pillow.  My challenge has always been staying asleep throughout the night and when I do wake up too early, not having my mind run wild with all of the things I need to do or think about.  I get spun up pretty quickly in the morning and am ready to hit the day.  

Recently though, I've taken a new perspective on the importance of sleep on my overall quality of life and my performance at work and with my family.  I go hard all day long and I find that by late afternoon and into the evening I'm definitely not my best.  I don't concentrate as well and have a hard time being "present" and patient with my family at night.  

Professional athletes have discovered the need for quality sleep.  The modern elite athlete knows that physical conditioning and good nutrition are critical in reaching peak athletic performance; however, sleep, while often overlooked, plays an equally important role. In recent years, it's become clear that the quality and quantity of sleep obtained by elite athletes can be the edge between winning and losing on game-day. 

The business world is late to this game, but is increasingly catching on.  Mckinsey research found that four types of leadership behavior are most commonly associated with high-quality executive teams: the ability to operate with a strong orientation to results, to solve problems effectively, to seek out different perspectives, and to support others.  You can also see the strong correlation that quality of sleep has on these behaviors.

• Results Orientation - To do this well, you need the ability to avoid distractions, while at the same time seeing the bigger picture. Scientists have found that sleep deprivation impairs this ability to focus attention selectively and some research compares sleep depravation to drunkenness for performance across a range of tasks.
• Solving Problems - Sleep is beneficial for most cognitive functions—insight, pattern recognition, and the ability to come up with innovative and creative ideas—that help us solve problems effectively.
• Seeking Different Perspectives - An important consideration for leaders seeking different perspectives is the ability to weigh the relative significance of different inputs accurately.  It is critical to avoid locking onto a single person's perspective and to minimize your bias towards certain options. Sleep has been shown to improve decision making for  complex cognitive–emotional tasks which integrate emotional responses by involving financial rewards and punishments. Science supports the commonly heard advice that rather than making an important decision or sending a sensitive email late at night, you should sleep on it.
• Supporting Others - To help other people, you must first understand them. In a sleep-deprived state, your brain is more likely to misinterpret facial expressions, tone and other non-verbal cues.  You are also more likely to overreact to emotional events, and you tend to express your feelings in a more negative manner and tone of voice.

Through my reading and talking to friends, I've identified this set of "sleep tips" that I am incorporating into my own quest for better sleep.

• Cool temperature in the bedroom at night
• Meditation / Breathing exercises
• Daily Physical Exercise - I was already doing this, but it shows up in everything I read so I included it here
• Limiting Caffeine - I am limiting myself to 2 cups of coffee per day, both early in the morning.  I was previously drinking 4-5 cups per day and often having a cup mid to late afternoon.
• Minor Diet / Nutrition Changes - I am reducing my red meats at dinner.  The thought here is to not go to bed with anything heavy and hard to digest still in your digestive system.
• Limit Alcohol Consumption - For me, I'm eliminating alcohol during the weeknights.
• Good bedtime routine
• Bedside journal - this is helpful to write down those random thoughts that consume my brain in the evening or if I wake up too early.  Let's me get them down on paper and move them out of my brain.

I believe "healthy sleep policies" will having an increasing role in the corporate world moving forward.  A recent Harvard Medical School study surveyed senior leaders and found that 96 percent reported experiencing at least some degree of burnout. One-third described their condition as extreme.  Much of this is caused, at least partially, by sleep deprivation.  I think it will be interesting to watch what type of policy changes (e.g., nap rooms, forced no electronics times, less travel, etc.) companies make in the coming years to help their leaders and employees with this.  

Feel free to join me in this journey or if you've "arrived" at good sleep, send me some of your tips!

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About: Justin Bell is a Vice President at Credera. He enjoys leading teams and working with clients on their digital strategy, understanding how technology can be used to accomplish business objectives and IT Velocity/Efficiency initiatives.  Read more about Credera's perspective here.