Could sleep be the most magically restorative of all our reset buttons?  At the very least, its absence is an effective indicator that we need to reset and resource.

How many of you include ‘get more sleep’ into your New Year resolutions?

I loved how Founder of Intersectional Environmentalist Leah Thomas said on her Instagram her 3 resolutions are: “drink more water, get more sleep, and hold politicians accountable for trying to ruin the very basis of our democracy”.

Sleep walking leaders

As Sleep Revolution author, Arianna Huffington said “I can tell you with authority that when I’m exhausted, when 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.”

Yep Arianna, I can.  I am known in my family as someone who needs their sleep.  As a child, whenever I got grumpy, mum would send me off to bed.  Now as an adult, I am clearer about whether I need to actually ‘process some emotions’ shall we say or indeed go for that siesta.

It never fails to amaze me, how physically and emotionally healing a sleep can be. I may not know the science but I sure know.

Whenever my niece and nephew come for a sleepover, it makes me wonder how many parents and therefore leaders must be walking around sleep-deprived on this earth.  It is no surprise to me that sleep has been identified as ‘an issue the corporate world cannot ignore’.  Research indicates a majority of managers across the board are getting less sleep than the recommended minimum.

The real impact

This is having a real impact on manager’s health, social and emotional lives. Furthermore it is having a negative impact on their performance in managing complex tasks and displaying effective behaviours.  To use an understatement.

In The Business of Sleep, Professor Vicky Culpin says, “having approximately 1.5 hours less sleep a night than you need means that you are about one-third less alert the next day. If you have three people working for you, this is the equivalent of paying for one person to be asleep all day!”.

Certainly when we get leaders talking about how they can look after their well-being more effectively,  the majority will talk about needing to improve the quantity and quality of their sleep.

Leadership consultant Roy White nailed it on episode 8 of the #earthconversepodcast: “if are going to say one thing to somebody about how to improve their life..get a decent night’s sleep”.

Giving it our attention

Sleep – it is a natural phenomena. We all need it and do it.   And as natural and common as it is, we must give it the attention it deserves. From the perspective of being our common reset button to feeling resourceful and rejuvenated and its deep gifts, here are seven sleep reflections…

Share:   Professor Culpin recommends we put ‘sleep on the agenda’.  In a world where sleep deprivation seems to be carried around like a badge of honour, this is particularly important.  We need to have conversations about the different ways sleep loss can affect us. And share tips on how we overcome it.

Maybe don’t share!  By its very nature, sleep is a very individual thing. And it can so depend on others.    I remember how unromantic I thought it was that my grandparents had single beds. Now I get it. Maybe it is a sign of age, but friends are expressing a desire to have separate bedrooms and even sleeping rooms from their partners.  This is a delicate topic to raise. And one too important not to have.

Tune in (with or without technology):   And so we take control of what we can, to enhance our sleep.  Which requires that we tune into what our mind, body and soul needs. We test and try out what works for us from the plethora of sleep advice tips out there. And we make choices accordingly.   Some friends have found wearing a Fitbit useful. With the data it provides, it has helped them dispel their own sleeping myths.

Let go:   Surely sleep is our most regular lesson in letting go.  Taking it to a deeper level, it is our every day initiation into dying.  In order to sleep, we truly need to relax and surrender. As the author of Eat Move Sleep advocates, focus on small choices which lead to big changes .“At the end of a lousy day, before you make a small stressor into something bigger, give sleep a chance to do some repair work overnight”.  The magic of sleep to put things in perspective is literally mind-blowing isn’t it?  And how much we need is individual. An ex British Prime Minister was known to sleep only 4 hours a night.  Arguably she should have had more.

If not you, who?:  Maybe you find it easier to do things for others rather than yourself. If so,  think of the wider impact of your sleep habits. Culpin recites President Bill Clinton’s interview on the US TV programme Daily Show. When he discussed his theory on how the relationship between sleep and mood shows up in US politics.  “You have no idea how many Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate are chronically sleep deprived because of this system. I know this is an unusual theory but I do believe sleep deprivation has a lot to do with some of the edginess of Washington today”. Lack of sleep is not the sole reason for the state of our democracy, systemic societal inequality and environmental degradation but it is doing its bit. Suffice to say, we owe it an individual and societal level to get enough sleep.

Dream gifts:  Sleep not only resets us physically, but emotionally. It is a chance to delve into our resourcefulness at a subconscious level.  I see sleep as one of the best personal development workshops around.   In Wild Courage, Elle Harrison explicitly encourages us to start noticing our dreams as a fundamental way to develop our intuition. Such a gift, is so integral to our creativity, innovation and decision making capabilities as a leader.  You will also want to tune into Ray Hillis on episode 29 of the #earthconversepodcast as he talks about how dreams help us access different realities and be a window to our soul.

Wake up:  As much as sleep can indicate balance and harmony in our life, its harsh opposite – sleeplessness can point to what is out of balance.   There are many reasons why we may not be able to sleep well.  So it maybe interesting to contemplate the extent to which your sleepless nights are that gentle whisper (or abrasive yell) to …wake-up. Are they a call to become more conscious?  What if you could look beyond the suffering, and see them as an invitation for a deeper reflection about how you want to live your life?. That they be a stirring as Charles Eisenstein wrote, to the more beautiful world your heart knows is possible?.

Sleep – all going well, occupies about a third of our life.  Something to be treasured indeed.

 

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