I just finished reading Matthew Walker's best-seller 'Why We Sleep.' It's no understatement to say that this is one of the most consequential publications of our time. It's a topic that quite literally affects all of us. Yet few of us, I suspect, really understand its implications on our day-to-day lives.
I urge you to read it.
You can find our recent review here. But let’s assume that you’re still skeptical, or you’re willing to read further, let me tell you why I’ve made such a bold claim.
Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology, which is the devoted to study of the nervous system and the brain. In his book, Walker presents compiled findings on sleep, many taken from his own clinical research and that of others, that overwhelmingly shows how humans have sacrificed sleep since the industrial revolution. And to our detriment. It’s easy to understand why because sleep is something that has always been presumed as dispensable. You can give it up or just try to defer it. Wrong and sleep debt - the act of giving up sleep hours on weekdays and then catching up on it on weekends - actually has long-term negative effects.
The best part is my fascination with clear evidence that sleep, or lack of it, has a huge impact on our productivity as humans, as well as our long-term health. It is now proven that we can link dementia and alzheimers to lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation and lower work productivity are also correlated. Deficient sleep makes you more unproductive, less motivated, less creative and overall, unhappier. Given such clear evidence, this is of huge importance to me as an editor and a people leader.
If you don’t care much for your work productivity, think about how it affects your children. Walker explains why teenagers have a different circadium rhythm that explains why they feel compelled to sleep late and wake up late. They basically can’t help it and therefore can’t be blamed for being lazy. All this was, pun unintended, an eye opener for me. For once, it was clear that teenagers couldn’t be compared to children of a younger age. His research extends to the controversy over early school start times, and again, presents research that links later school times to better grades.
If only a smidgen of what Walker preaches should be found credible and accepted, who is willing to put it in practice in our temples of corporate worship? Don't look at HR. Start at the very top. At the board level. Excellent, world class management principles like the Amazon LPs can only go so far as the body is willing to bear. Adopting every management tenet to improve ourselves will only result in meaningful increments. Sleep will improve it in an order of magnitude. Companies like Nike and Google have already taken notice but the momentum needs to increase exponentially.
At TBR, we’ve already written about this and we will continue to do so. As men - who always neglect sleep ahead of that extra work email - I hope you find this compelling and championable at work. And give this book the chance it deserves.
Disagree? Drop me a note at editor@theboardroom.life and I'd be glad to hear why you think so. If you like this op-ed, please share it. If you want to read more of my soap-box rants or raves, here's another one.