How a Good Night’s Sleep Boosts Productivity
By: Changwon C.
Tags: Sleep, Business, Insomnia, Productivity, Entrepreneurship

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As an entrepreneur, you are inclined to be a work-ethic. You have a planned day each day, where every portion of your time is carefully selected for any particular activity, and you try to wrestle with it to fulfill it.

Being an entrepreneur, I can understand why many CEOs and people in business opt to de-emphasize their relationships, personal goals, and well-being to give their all to their projects. As a result, sleep is one of the primary necessities treated like a luxury and gets thrown out the window. Surprisingly, it is more common than you can anticipate.

Reasons for Entrepreneurial Insomnia

The problem with running a business is the complexities that tag along, which require a full-time dedication to tackle. All this process can also increase stress. I have found that to be very true. With stress comes the guilt that if you take some time off or focus on yourself, you might end up lagging behind the competition.

“Successful People Sleep Less”

Jack Dorsey (Twitter founder), Marissa Mayer (former Yahoo CEO), Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo CEO) are some of the names thrown around when people talk about entrepreneurs who work more than 16 hours and sleep less than 4 hours. They are hailed as champions, so the younger generation of entrepreneurs look to them for inspiration.

This is where they can be doing more harm to themselves, scientifically speaking than they are willing to consider. It got me thinking about the importance of sleep and finding out what general consensus about sleep was there in the business community.

The Other Side of the Picture

I think this is one of the major hurdles new and upcoming entrepreneurs and businessmen face as soon as they begin focusing on their time. Contrary to popular belief, a good night’s sleep is an essential ingredient for staying healthy. Especially during pandemic times, when our immunities are already at risk, we need to focus on our sleeping schedule.

Finding ways to manage my sleep schedule while quarantining, I stumbled about a fact. The Huffington Post’s founder Arianna Huffington once woke up in her home in a pool of her blood. She had gone without sleep for some time, and it resulted in her blacking out, hitting and rupturing her cheekbone against the desk. She was not suffering from any disease; she just felt exhausted and had no time to sleep.

I was fascinated by Huffington’s realization about entrepreneurs’ struggle with sleep and decided to dig a little further about the world’s most prominent entrepreneurs’ sleeping habits. Top business moguls such as Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Jeff Bezos all preach a 7 to 8-hour sleep cycle.

In an interview, Musk admitted that he slept at least 6 hours a night (from 1 am to 7 am), although he confessed that he could stay up longer if he wants. Similarly, Bill Gates has disclosed that he sleeps 7 hours per night (from 12 am to 7 am).

I found that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook sleeps 7 hours every night (from 9:30 pm to 4:30 am ). Sheryl Sandberg balances her busy days at Facebook by sleeping 7 hours (9:30 pm to 5 am).

Scientific Basis for Better Sleep

Of course, as I started digging deep, I found many types of research done about entrepreneurs and their circadian rhythm — the body’s biological clock that determines when to release hormones that influence sleep. The most helpful study I found online was of Gish et al. They found out the effects of low sleep habits in 784 entrepreneurs.

The data of the research showed lower sleep cycles continuously result in lower sympathy and friendliness among entrepreneurs. The researchers also added how low sleep cycles lead to heart and kidney diseases, diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure.

Partial sleep deprivation has undoubtedly affected me personally. A study done at the University of Pennsylvania found that even people with partial sleep deprivation can lead to them facing work irritability and inability to control anger. This change in mood can adversely affect your skill as a leader and an employer.

In all of the research I did online, I found that it is not about increasing sleep time but actually about better-quality sleep.

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Setting A Healthy Sleeping Routine

Here is how you can fix your sleep cycle to boost business productivity that I tried to implement in my life, based on research and practice:

Purchase the right pillow and mattress

Believe it or not, having a quality pillow and mattress is directly related to sound sleep, and smart entrepreneurs know how to manage their precious resting time by investing in them. If your mattress is too soft or too hard, you will end up tossing and turning all night. You would even bother your partner and wake up cranky and groggy. Similarly, you should purchase pillows that are not too high or low to strain your neck muscles. They should align with your shoulders as you lay. If you have allergies, invest in hypoallergenic pillows.

Change your dietary choices

For managing businesses and for being on top of the game all the time, entrepreneurs consume foods and beverages to increase productivity, e.g., caffeine and alcohol. A general rule of thumb that I have found to be helpful is restricting caffeine consumption after 12 pm, as the substance stays in our systems longer than we think it does, and it is a key factor in disturbing sleep schedules. It goes the same for people who have a high tolerance for caffeine.

Do not take sleeping pills

Do not take sleeping pills right before going to bed. Even though it may seem like an easy fix, studies have shown that sleeping pills make people more tired and irritable. If you have to use a sleeping aid, choose relaxation supplements over sedatives.

Adopt a healthy lifestyle

Since this hack works in general for anyone, especially people facing the challenges of COVID-19, I will highly recommend changing your lifestyle. This includes working out each day for about 20 minutes, eat healthy, drink plenty of water, and try to meditate. Meditation helps in calming us and relieving us of our daily stressors, which can definitely help in falling asleep earlier.

Pay attention to your sleeping environment

To better help you with falling asleep, you can ensure that the place you sleep at is quiet, dark, and a cool room. Optimize the room temperature at around 60 °F — 75 °F (16 °C — 24 °C). These qualities improve the nature of sleep and make it fulfilling. You can also experiment with other soothing products or rituals. Many people recommend candles to help you with sleep. Others recommend a warm bath. Some people prefer reading books or listening to ambient or white noise before bed to help induce sleep.

Establish consistency

You can try to keep a journal to maintain your sleep schedule. There are some researches that consider keeping consistency as mute. Others argue that it might prove useful. This method might help in your case.

The times you go to sleep and wake up are both important, and it helps develop a habit if you stick to it. This might prove to be a little difficult initially, but habit-building does not come easily.

Reduce the use of technology

I had always heard people saying that we should not use blue-light gadgets just before going to bed, but I had never paid attention to its root cause. The way blue-light works is that it hinders the production of melatonin that induces sleep. So, to help me manage my sleep schedule, I stopped my social media and technology use an hour before sleeping, and I found it immensely helped me maintain a fixed sleep cycle.

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Avoid daytime naps

Although entrepreneurs hardly get any free time to take naps, but if you do, avoid going to sleep. When I searched about this tip, I found out that eliminating multiple circadian cycles results in elevated diabetes levels, damage to the immune system, and your metabolism.

Hack your sleep

This method is a cheat for sleeping for eight hours or so and has a fair share of its own critique. Some entrepreneurs claim that doing a short interval of sleep helps them. They propose a two-part sleep system, where they wake up in the middle of the night to do some tasks. I am not a huge fan of this tip, but if it suits you, then you should experiment with this tip to see if it works in your case.

Bottom Line

Despite what many entrepreneurs claim, a single-phased, uninterrupted sleep of 6 or more hours has been scientifically proven to increase workplace productivity and decision-making abilities. It also keeps us energetic and rejuvenated to help us better grasp at opportunities. I feel that entrepreneurs should definitely start talking more about improving their sleeping patterns and how external factors and stressors influence the circadian rhythm.