Sleep, with Nick!
Sleep. If you’re in the majority, the likelihood is you’re not getting enough. So what? That’s just life, isn’t it?
But, when you consider research by RAND, you need to be thinking about sleep differently and prioritising it as a must have. Negative sleep cultures can have wide reaching consequences far beyond just lower performances of employees. Studies have shown that businesses that have a culture of presenteeism and a 24 hour work schedule, have lower engagement and job satisfaction, increased absenteeism and eventual burnout amongst their employees. In 2016 it was calculated that between 1-3% of GDP in the UK alone was lost due to negative sleep cultures. This equates to over $50bn lost due to businesses either undervaluing or misunderstanding the importance of sleep in the workplace.
I’ve been lucky enough to be introduced to the very knowledgeable and exceedingly nice Nick Witton from Elite Sleep and here I pick his brain about sleep. Exploring a range of questions including the impact of not-enough-sleep (we’re talking a few hours… not life long deprivation), workplace responsibility and tips for us to improve our Zs at a time many of us are juggling too many demands, Nick provides great advice.
Ref. Why sleep matters — the economic costs of insufficient sleep, Rand Corporation, 2016