Sleep: you’re not getting enough.
Ben Baldieri
GPU Compute | AI Infrastructure | Solutions with Panchaea | Insights with The GPU
Picture the scene: something came up late at the office last night. You had to stay well after normal hours, meaning all your normal evening plans had to be pushed back a couple of hours. This means you didn’t get into bed until close to midnight. Getting to sleep, took another hour, thanks to the evening coffee you needed to power through the extra work. You finally get to sleep at around 1am, but you’re worrying about the meeting you have at 0900. You’re also not really asleep, you’re sedated. This is owing to the (1 too many) drinks you had with dinner. You’ve also got a gym session scheduled for beforehand, so that means you need to be up at 0530 to account for the time it will take you to commute to work.
This nightmare scenario means you’ll probably be running on around 4h of sleep when that meeting rolls around. The presentation whips past before you’ve had a chance to tune in, and your boss is expecting a thoroughly prepared analysis first thing tomorrow morning. Looks like you’re staying late again, except you already have plans…
This all-too-common pattern, and the viewing of sleep deprivation as a badge of honour is one of the most damaging, and yet strangely pervasive, ideas that has permeated the culture of work in both the East, and the West. Of all the behaviours and ideas that seem to form the foundation of global work-culture in present-day society, being proud of subjecting oneself to chronic sleep deprivation is the one that makes the least sense. I have personally experienced the effects of self-induced sleep deprivation, as I am sure many of you have too.
The impact is the same, irrespective of locale, or surroundings: the less I sleep, the less productive I am, and the less able I am to do my job. Unsurprisingly, the opposite rings true when I sleep more.
Shocking.
So what happens to you when your sleep suffers? Nothing good.
Why sleep is important, and what happens when you don’t get enough: a 35,000ft view
Everyone knows sleep is important, but aside from the obvious recovery benefits, people aren’t always entirely clear as to why. To address that, here’s a big picture overview of the systems affected by sleep, how they’re impacted by lack of sleep, and why they’re important.
Memory – why you forget the important things
Struggling to remember the take home from that meeting? Had a brilliant idea on a new way to add value, but then swiftly lost it? If you're sleep deprived, these scenarios are probably all too common. That’s because sleep is essential for memory storage and processing. Short term memories, accumulated over the course of the day, are consolidated and transferred to long-term memory when you sleep. Your brain collects a lot of information throughout the course of a standard waking day. Not sleeping enough means that the essential consolidation is significantly impaired. Memories are not effectively transferred, and you’re left wondering just what exactly that important thing that person said was.
The attention span of a goldfish
It’s not just memory that takes a hit when you’re sleep deprived. Your ability to pay attention for sustained periods of time drops through the floor. The consequences of this may not seem all that bad when you first think about it. We live in a world, after all, where our attention is fragmented at the best of times, so surely a loss of attention is barely noticeable? Not so.
Productivity hinges on the ability to pay attention for sustained periods of time. Lose that ability, and your productivity will tank. Your vigilance will drop, and everything becomes a distraction. Days fly by with nothing to show for them, and all of a sudden that impending deadline that you thought would be an easy hit is looming ominously. You’re left trying to cobble something together last minute, and you know the quality is sub-standard.
Faulty thinking
Logic. Reason. Decision making. Problem solving. Creativity. A well-rested brain is a wonderful thing, capable of all these things simultaneously. A sleep-deprived brain, on the other hand, will struggle. New ideas are more difficult to both generate and analyse. Problems with simple solutions become insurmountable challenges, and choosing where to go for lunch? Forget about it.
Upping the anxiety
Sleep plays an important role in shaping how we perceive the world. Even minor sleep deprivation can have some pretty significant effects on your baseline levels of anxiety. Just one night can jack your anxiety levels through the roof, leaving you less able to deal with new challenges, or the rigours of a demanding job. If you’ve been left feeling anxious before big presentations and meetings, sleep deprivation could be a contributing factor. If that sleep deprivation becomes chronic, anxiety can morph into full depression. Feelings of sadness and emptiness may become your new norm, and all from a lack of rest.
All-cause mortality
This is perhaps the most worrying impact of sleep-deprivation. Numerous studies have shown that long term sleep disruption can have a serious impact on your overall health, including increased obesity, increased risk of cancer and heart disease, and increased risk of Alzheimers. To quote the book Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker, here's his TED talk. Well worth a read):
“The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life”
Feeling the effects
Sleep deprivation has an impact on near enough every process that allows you to thrive, both in work, and in life outside work. If you find yourself burning the candle at both ends, you’ll more than likely experience some deficit in memory, and be less able to perform at maximum levels. Your thinking is going to suffer, your attention is going to wander more often than you’d like, and your anxiety levels will start to creep up. To top things off, your long term health will start to suffer as well, and nothing is more important than that.
References
I used some general references in writing this post, feel free to check them out if you'd like to know more:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058849
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/whats-in-it-for-you/mood
Global Leadership Development | Strategic Accounts at Harvard Business Impact | Learning and Development | Personal Effectiveness
6yI'm pleased that this terrible approach is seemingly being increasingly scrutinized. It's what you do with the 16 hours that matters. Good work Ben Baldieri
Generative AI-Learning Management System (LMS) for Education Institutions and Businesses.
6yDuring the last year of my master degree here in China, I was experimenting with polyphasic sleep. Was a nice experience, had to switch back to normal 7h hours of sleep.😬
🇺🇸 American SEO Writer & Editor | 👩🏫 Former University Professor (Digital Marketing & Business) | 🌍 Remote worker since 2020 working with clients in the U.S. & Europe
6yGreat article, Ben! We really need to keep bringing these types of health issues to the forefront of business and work-life balance matters. It's still often overlooked and creates a host of damage not just to your health, but your productivity and effectiveness. Hope you'll keep writing further about this subject. I've been working on this area of my life and I'm definitely more energetic and even keeled when I get good, consistent sleep each night--at least 8 hours.
GPU Compute | AI Infrastructure | Solutions with Panchaea | Insights with The GPU
6yAlbin Warin 乐心 Jonathan Jennings Tamar Hela Giorgio Morocica Fionn Wright - 仁飞扬 Daria Nalimova Who else feels the effects of sleep deprivation? How do you manage the need for rest, and the demands of work, and life?