Two months ago, I stopped setting an alarm clock. The intention was to wake up at whatever time my body thought it best to wake up. I was curious to see what impact that would have on my life, especially on my work.
The benefits were immediate. No more yawning throughout the day. Less stress, less irritability. The wall I hit every afternoon with a ferocious thud stopped presenting itself. My decisions became more carefully considered.
![Snuggle on down and get to sleep for business success.](/web/20161011153330im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/r/7/6/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gr0raj.png/1472090436438.jpg)
Of course, it's possible none of it's related to the extra sleep. It may have all been due to the peace that comes with starting each day in a manner other than the shrill of an alarm. Or perhaps it was just the placebo effect. Whatever the cause, it was working. And so was I – more productively and positively than ever.
The inspiration for that move was Arianna Huffington's latest book, The Sleep Revolution, which shocked me into heeding the hundreds of studies proving the harmful effects of sleep deprivation. But of most fascination was this:
![Studies suggest business leaders should get the right amount of sleep if they want to thrive.](/web/20161011153330im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/o/m/8/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gr0raj.png/1472090436438.jpg)
"Just think about the definition of the word alarm: a sudden fear or distressing suspense caused by an awareness of danger … So an alarm, in most situations, is a signal that something is not right. Yet most of us rely on some kind of alarm clock – a knee-jerk call to arms – to start the day."
And so it is that where once I prided myself on getting by on five hours a night, I now get a decent eight thanks to realising what I'd been missing.
Of the myriad studies in Huffington's book, two are absent due to the fact they've only just been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
In the first, the researchers asked leaders to deliver a presentation. Half had been kept up the night before with surveys they had to complete every hour between 10pm and 5am. When the sleep deprived delivered their talk in the morning, they were significantly more likely to be rated as uncharismatic.
By the way, charisma in this context means much more than just how captivating one can be. What it really reflects, from an empirical perspective, is the extent to which an individual is perceived as inspirational, competent and intelligent; even "extraordinary". So it really is a leadership goal worth pursing and, as the first study showed, those positive attributions diminish the less sleep a leader gets.
In the second study, it was the employees' turn to be analysed. Half were similarly kept up all night. The next morning, they were required to watch a video of a leader and to rate that leader's "charisma". Those who were sleep deprived were more likely to judge the boss harshly because they themselves felt down and subsequently passed on those ungenerous sentiments.
Which really goes to show that perceptions of leadership are influenced not only by your own sleeping patterns but also by your employees'.
And what ends up happening, as the scholars note, is that many people who "experience sleep deprivation notoriously underestimate the effects". They don't realise that underneath that facade, there are physiological and neurological consequences that are quite obvious to anyone but themselves.
As Arianna Huffington states in her book: "We're only now beginning to come out of a phase that started with the Industrial Revolution, in which sleep became just another obstacle to work."
Indeed, what we're now learning is that sleep isn't an obstacle; it's an enabler.
Do you get enough sleep? How does it affect your leadership style?
James Adonis is the author of Employee Enragement.
0 comments
New User? Sign up