Getting a good night's sleep is key to innovating and making good decisions

As managing partner, no doubt your working day will frequently spill into your evening. Office activities will be extended by client engagements, PR commitments and committee meetings. It may well be late by the time you walk through your front door after a long commute. Getting eight hours sleep a night probably seems unrealistic. But, although there is some individual variability and we can train ourselves to cope with less, most adults really do need around eight hours per night.¹

There is growing evidence of the physiological and cognitive impact of insufficient sleep.² Raised blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, reduced immune system functioning, obesity, type 2 diabetes and many other diseases have been shown to be associated with sleep loss. Equally compelling is evidence showing the effect on our performance. Research linking road traffic accidents with fatigue will be no surprise.

But, sleep deprivation affects many levels of our cognitive functioning. Research has shown a link between sleep deprivation and a loss of working memory, innovative thinking and generation of spontaneous ideas.³ Individuals can also become less able to appreciate complexities in a situation. One study showed that sleep-deprived people apply effort to pointless areas of decision-making with little or no effective outcome.⁴

Winding down

Switching off at night once our brain is fired up and running is a challenge; most of us need a winding-down period. Watching TV, reading and listening to music have their place, as do more formal relaxation techniques and meditation. Insufficient physical activity during the day doesn't help, but beware exercising too close to bedtime, as this can leave you energised and unable to sleep.

You may have so much on your mind that you find you can't get to sleep or, worse, wake up and can't get back to sleep. We all experience this occasionally, but the frequency and duration can escalate at times of pressure. Once you start tossing and turning, the anxiety that you will be 'wrecked' tomorrow becomes one of the thoughts keeping you awake.

A simple but effective technique is to keep a notepad and pen by your bed and to write down your thoughts or a 'to do' list. Avoid using your smartphone or tablet for this purpose: not only can the bright screen add to your wakefulness, but you may be tempted to start checking messages. Science shows that, if you really can't sleep, getting up and doing something else in a different room will get you there faster.

Also beneficial is avoiding stimulants. Caffeine and nicotine both negatively impact not only our ability to sleep but also the quality of our sleep. Given the surprising durability of caffeine in the blood stream (over 12 hours), it is best to confine coffee drinking to the morning or, at latest, early afternoon.

Alcohol may help us to get to sleep, but results in a lightening of sleep or even waking during the night. On the positive side, a diet high in tryptophan-containing ingredients (such as poultry, sesame seeds, eggs, tofu and fish) seems to help. Another famous sleep-inducing food is kiwifruit.⁵ Try eating two about an hour before bedtime. A dark room at the right temperature and a comfortable bed are important too.

Keep to a routine

Many people rely on a weekend top-up of sleep. But, lying in late at the weekend resets our natural body clock. So, even if we then go to bed at a good time on Sunday night, our internal clock is set to being awake later the next day. This can feel like 'jetlag' on Monday morning.

If you are going to catch up on sleep, it is better to keep your waking time close to normal and to have a nap later in the day. The only downside is that, for some, it can make it harder to get to sleep at night. Generally sticking close to a normal routine is preferable.

Changing patterns

The pressures of office life may well present constraints that affect your sleep patterns. But, equally, for many, there are ways to improve the quantity and quality of sleep. It pays to identify the habits that may not be doing you any favours and to reprogramme your routines accordingly.

Dr Karen Lindall is a general practitioner specialising in occupational health at Roodlane Medical and a consultant at Talaspect Talent Development (https://talaspect.com). She gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Colin Dworkin to this article.

References

1. See 'National Sleep Foundation's sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary', M. Hirshkowitz et al, Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation, Vol. 1 Issue 1, March 2015

2. See 'Association of sleep time with diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance', D.J. Gottlieb et al, Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 165 Issue 8, April 2005

3. See 'Measuring the effects upon cognitive abilities of sleep loss during continuous operations', J. May and P. Kline, British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 78 Issue 4, November 1987

4. See 'One night of sleep loss impairs innovative thinking and flexible decision making', Y. Harrison and J.A. Horne, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 78 Issue 2, May 1999

5. See 'Effect of kiwifruit consumption on sleep quality in adults with sleep problems', H.H. Lin et al, Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 20 Issue 2, 2011