Poppy potential.
Why missing a
night of sleep can damage your IQ
Katie Pisa, for CNN
'Thinking Business' focuses on the psychology of getting ahead in the workplace
by exploring techniques to boost employee performance, increase creativity and productivity.
London (CNN)From Napoleon Bonaparte and Margaret Thatcher
to Twitter founder and Square, Inc.
CEO Jack Dorsey and Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer,
many successful leaders have claimed they only need 4-5
hours of precious sleep a night.
They seem wired differently and shame the rest of us for
craving eight hours of shut eye
every night. But for the majority of us - including many top CEOs and
world leaders -
this is certainly not the case, according to Dr. Tara Swart,
an
international neuroscientist and CEO of The Unlimited Mind.
Missing a night of sleep can have quite a
"devastating" effect on our performance, Swart says.
"One to two percent of the population can survive on
four hours of sleep a night," said Swart,
"but 7-8 hours is optimal for most of us," she
claims.
Could the secret to success in your professional lives be
linked to how well you sleep?
"There's a very strong correlation between
restfulness and leadership," according to Jessica Payne, associate
professor and director of the Sleep Stress and Memory Lab
at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
"The majority of people need seven to nine hours of
sleep and the majority of people
don't get that much," cites Payne. It's as important
as diet and exercise, she added.
Long term damage
While many of us skimp on sleep for years, thinking we
can either make up for it at the weekend
or another time, these long-term habits can add up to big
trouble. The problems really strike
after many years of doing this, said Payne. Memory
problems, issues with decision-making,
lack of creativity and regulating personal emotions are
some of the first areas to be diminished
by lack of sleep, according to Payne.
Social ability and emotional stability are linked to
sleep, and a sleep deficit can be
a "huge problem for leadership," says Payne. A
lack of it makes us irritable, she said,
and many of us don't understand how key sleep is in
regulating your emotions
and interacting with others both in the workplace and at
home.
Swart, who trained as a doctor and specialised in
psychiatry, then followed her passion
for neuroscience and after working as a psychiatrist for
seven years,
is now a coach for leading executives and financiers.
What she didn't expect when she started her research into
sleep were the "shocking" health consequences many of her clients
suffered by abusing the need for sleep.
"So many of my clients have had heart attacks and
nervous breakdowns," she says,
even those in their forties. While much of it is due to
information overload
and uncertainty in today's world, a great deal of
illnesses are due to higher levels of cortisol
from stress, which in turns leads to difficulty sleeping,
she said.
On top of the obvious health risks, when you have any
sleep disturbance,
your IQ drops by 5-8 IQ points, explained Swart. While we
can usually carry on,
albeit a bit more groggy, studies show that when we miss
a night of sleep,
our IQ drops by 1 standard deviation,
meaning you'll be "operating as if you've got a
learning disability," she said.
Coaching to sleep
What do experts recommend to overcome sleep challenges
for leaders?
Both Swart and Payne do a lot of coaching for executives,
CEOs, CFOs
and financial industry leaders in particular. The
coaching takes place either on a personal level
or in sort of retreat-style group setting where
colleagues go away to focus for a day
maybe four times per year. Similar to using a personal
trainer at the gym,
these increasingly popular type of consultants, or
coaches, push their clients in terms of leadership.
Swart says she uses various techniques including a food
diary or a questionnaire
that looks at the physical, spiritual and mental health
around each individual.
Wearable technology has helped too, claims Swart,
as many clients love seeing data and tracking their sleep
in this way.
Poor "sleep hygiene" is linked to everything
from how late in the day we drink caffeine and alcohol, to looking at the blue
light of our computer screens less than an hour before we go to sleep.
Other tips from Swart include using certain aromas to
help sleep,
blackout curtains and eating at least an hour and a half
before going to sleep.
Power napping
We've all heard the term "power nap", but what
few realize is the literal truth to those words.
Both Swart and Payne stressed the importance of naps as
one of the most significant steps
in becoming a successful individual and leader.
"I dream of one day having a cubicle where everyone
can have a nap," said Payne.
"We're a long way from that, but it's absolutely
right for everyone
who wants to enhance their performance. It has a huge
effect."
Even if you don't go to sleep, incorporating a
"mindfulness period" or "restful wakefulness",
will help relieve stress and rejuvenate the brain, in
turn making leaders more effective
and better at their jobs, claims Payne.
The most famous example of a company embracing this
advice is Google,
well-known for their nap parties and pods where employees
can go in and curl up.
Swart said though she advises a 90-minute nap to get the
most creative benefits,
most of the leaders she's coaching don't have time to do
it.
So a focus on other mindfulness techniques and rest
periods is often encouraged too.
Payne agrees, adding that mindfulness training, whether
it's sleep or meditation,
will help to relieve the stress system. "It's the
new frontier," she said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/01/business/sleep-and-leadership/index.html?iid=INTL_SPC
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