The science is settled. Sleep is the single most important driver of effective professional performance. So why do leaders still deprioritise it? Today on SmartCompany we’re running a wellness special, with a focus on sleep.
Dr Jemma King: latest sleep science | Eight Sleep: sleep tech | Tim Duggan: why exercise is vital | Rebecca Houghton: burnout hitting managers | Rachel Beard: the latest sleep trends
As regular readers may recall, I’ve been on something of a journey this year.
Due to a combination of factors – work pressure, work-related travel, a renovation, a bit of a mid-life crisis, all contributing to a scary lack of sleep – I suffered a bit of a burnout in July.
The data showed I wasn’t alone, with more than 60 percent of Australian workers facing burnout, and the virtual mailbag definitely confirmed it.
Our burnout special received more correspondence than anything else we have published since I started at SmartCompany two years ago.
Since returning to work in July – after a restorative week of doctor-enforced leave – I have prioritised my mental and physical health, and been very intentional about the habits that science shows can keep it on an even keel.
I’ve always tried to practise mindfulness, exercise, eat well, and track my sleep.
This year I’ve redoubled my efforts: paying particular attention to my sleep.
It’s a journey, up and down; more down (asleep) than up (awake) in the key restorative hours. In October I averaged 5¾ a night, which sounds pretty bad, but did include two weeks where I averaged seven hours. The less said about burning the candle at both ends at SXSW Sydney the better.
I’m wearing a Whoop, an awesome wearable device whose functionality I’m still getting my head around. Worn like a watch, it tracks sleep (including REM) and comes up with helpful (?!) advice like “Not enough sleep. Poor sleep hurts your fitness. Get back on track by going to bed early or taking a nap to reduce your sleep debt.”
That’s today’s advice. Last night I slept 5 hours and 35 minutes, apparently, with a 58% sleep performance rating from Whoop. Whoops indeed.
In today’s sleep-focused wellness special, Dr Jemma King – a Brisbane-based sleep, stress and recovery expert – explains why leaders need to prioritise sleep.
“Sleep deprivation impacts everything, it’s the single biggest negative driver on mental health”, says Dr King. “If you don’t sleep seven hours a night, it severely impacts your psychopathology: it literally makes you crazy.”
Am I feeling crazy? Well, not much more than normal, but I’m certainly fatigued.
Will my lack of sleep affect my work performance today? It already has. I was at my desk ten minutes after my 04:55 alarm, editing three guest articles for today’s special.
This exercise took me far longer than it should have – my mind kept wandering off to all the things I needed to do during the day.
And the science shows that there will be a knock-on effect during the day, too.
“Lack of sleep is so dangerous, it’s like you are drunk,” says Dr King.
“Your performance really suffers, there are a whole range of negative cognitive effects”.
I started this month with three consecutive nights of 8¾ hours of sleep and I felt amazing! So clearly I can sleep well when I prioritise it. But inevitably the demands of work start creep in, and the hours of sleep go down.
Traditionally, until quite recently, executives wore a lack of sleep as a badge of honour.
I may have done so too. Leading a team of 45 at a rapidly growing startup in my early forties I boasted “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, and kind of meant it. I viewed the infamously sleep-deprived Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill as exemplars of people who could (really) get shit done on very little sleep.
But the tide is turning.
“20 years ago it was macho to say, ‘oh, I sleep only four hours,’” said sleep fitness CEO Matteo Franceschetti, co-founder of bed-tech startup Eight Sleep, on a visit to Australia last month to speak at SXSW Sydney.
“Executives used to say ‘I’m a tough guy, I don’t need to sleep more’. Now a lack of sleep is seen as much a health issue as smoking or drinking a lot of alcohol,” he continued.
“The concept of ‘I’ll sleep when I die’ is dead.
“Sleep deprivation is the new smoking.
“Today if you are publicly disclosing that you are not sleeping as CEO then you are not seen as not the right ambassador to lead your business.”
(You can read my interview with Matteo and his co-founder Alexandra here).
I rely on a simple formula. M*E*D*S. I’m a self-help nerd with a shelf full of books by self-improvement gurus so I’m not sure where I got it from, but each day, I try and take my M*E*D*S: meditation, exercise, diet, sleep.
I have churned from mindfulness apps Calm and Headspace as the cost of living crisis bites, but I’m meditating each day via a free app provided by my MiCBT psychologist Dr Bruno Cayoun.
I do a seven-minute workout each morning, attempt to hit 10,000 steps each day, and have been slowly ramping up my Huon Valley bushwalks and runs.
And in honour of the recently departed Dr Michael Mosley, I have been revisiting his Fast800 keto diet.
All this is about trying to be intentional with my mental and physical health, and find balance.
As author Tim Duggan says in his new book Work Backwards, too many of us are overworked, disengaged and apprehensive about the future: we approach work and life the wrong way around.
Today Tim shares research from Stanford University that found there were 278 % more people playing golf at 4 pm on a randomly selected August in 2022 than on the same date in 2019.
“That’s a lot more people taking advantage of flexible working hours to hit a small white ball around a park.”
I’ll be getting out on the heavenly Huonville golf course the first Friday afternoon I can.
But before then, I’ll be focusing on sleep.
Tomorrow SmartCompany celebrates our annual Smart50 Awards, our ranking of the fastest-growing SMEs in Australia. The revenue numbers are looking much better than a year ago, and they are for our business, too.
But there’s no denying that for the vast majority of companies, the last couple of years have been a struggle.
If you are leading and running a business in a cost-of-living crisis you are inevitably under pressure. If you are also the founder and/or owner of that business then the pressure is magnified.
So as well as celebrating the energy that goes into delivering standout growth, today we also wanted to acknowledge that focusing on your wellness – your mental and physical health, and in particular on your sleep – is essential if you are going to build a thriving business without coming unstuck yourself.
Thanks for reading SmartCompany – and this article. We exist to serve you, Australia’s business leaders. If you are having trouble with your work/life balance, or your sleep (or anything else), please email me! Looking after your health needs to be a priority.
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Simon Crerar is the managing director of Impact&ble, a sustainable impact advisory firm. He was editor-in-chief of SmartCo Media from 2022-24, and before that the founding editor and then GM of BuzzFeed Australia. Simon began his career on Fleet Street at The Times, and has also worked for the SMH and News Corp Australia. He champions businesses having a positive impact on LinkedIn.
