Why Sleep Is Pivotal To Us All
5 minutes read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
This is not the normal topic you might expect from TRunblocked.com. But it’s a subject area that affects us all – the need for sleep. Many businesses are waking up to the fact that there are things that they can do to help staff suffering from sleep deprivation that will make a difference to their overall wellness and productivity. I hope you find this blog from Talia Shapero of interest. There are learnings here for everyone. As TRunblocked.com we won’t claim that we never sleep, but we do recognise that we could enjoy far more than we currently experience!
How Sleep is Pivotal to Wellness
You’d be amazed at how many people struggle with their sleep. Especially those who travel. Whether it’s taking a red eye, crossing one or more time zones, or not sleeping well on the plane, the effects of flying and jet lag can leave people feeling foggy-brained and groggy. This is a compounding issue for those who travel internationally for work and need to stay cognitively sharp and perform, and even more so for those who may have sleep issues to begin with.
Travel-related sleep issues are just the tip of the iceberg.
Whether it’s going to sleep, staying asleep or waking up feeling refreshed, sleep is an increasing problem.
Sleep disorders have steadily been on the rise for the last 20 years and globally, 1 in 3 people do not get the required amount of sleep for optimal health. It’s no wonder that the CDC has declared insufficient sleep as a public epidemic.
But this isn’t surprising given factors that influence sleep. As a society, we’re more sedentary, we’re more stimulated and we’re more stressed than ever before. Today’s ‘hustle culture’ is not conducive to good sleep. For those who are interested in improving their sleep, there’s still a lot of misinformation and misguided quick hacks that don’t address underlying causes or treat for long term success.
And that’s a problem as there is not one area of our health and well-being that sleep does not impact. Sleep affects our cognitive, mental and physical health and influences things like brain and cardiovascular functioning, immunity, mood, and weight and appetite. And there’s a bidirectional nature of sleep to wellness.
The good news is that there is a growing interest in the topic. In consumer surveys, sleep has been identified as the next-highest priority after better health and sleep-related online searches were at an all time high last year.
This consumer interest also represents a considerable opportunity for companies to compete in the space. In 2019, the global sleep economy was valued at about $432B U.S. This industry is forecast to be worth $585B U.S. by 2024 and research suggests that sleep is the area with the greatest unmet consumer need.
Businesses have a duty of care for the welfare of their staff
Many companies are increasingly adopting a pastoral role with respect to their employees.
For some companies this is borne from a genuine cultural desire to do the best by their employees.
For others, it’s just good business. How so?
Well, many employees, and in particular the next generation of talent coming through, are more interested in their personal wellness and people are appreciating that sleep is an important part of that.
Some companies such as Volkswagen have a policy of disconnection where they discourage staff from sending emails after hours. Others, such as Netflix allow for unlimited vacation days to allow staff to ‘take the time they need to recharge’ and bring their best selves to work.
These types of policies are important with regard to attracting and retaining the best talent the market has to offer.
But, aside from competing for talent, it is also commercially sensible to look after your employees (including caring about their sleep).
Sleep disorders and sleep deficiency in the U.S. cost over $411 billion in economic losses. Insufficient sleep decreases productivity by 29% and that’s because sleep loss can make it more challenging to maintain focus, attention, and vigilance. Sleep deprived people are also more likely to make errors and omissions. From a health and safety perspective, sleepy employees are 70% more likely to be involved in a workplace accident.
Furthermore, chronic sleep loss increases the risk of more serious mental health conditions, like anxiety and depression, that can make being productive at work even more difficult. On the flip side, companies with sleep-positive cultures have 50% higher employee satisfaction and companies that focus on staff wellness see an increase in sales and a reduction in costs and turnover.
A big goal of organizations is to bring down the cost of business, keep their employees at work and if they’re forward thinking, they’re always looking for tools to make available for workers that are low cost, logical and impactful.
And this is a message that I like to get across to businesses – apart from affecting employees’ health and well-being, insufficient sleep may also affect a business’ profit margins.
How management and HR can use sleep guidance to make staff more efficient
Sleep can definitely be used as a metric to measure job performance, job satisfaction and a company’s bottom line. Screening for sleep issues, whether through data analytics or forums and listening sessions is a good starting point. Then, small interventions, such as providing sleep education workshops and/or offering a few hours of sleep coaching for those who are interested can be really economical, meaningful, and preventative in terms of dealing with larger, more long standing and costly issues later on that may stem from poor sleep.
Within day to day operations, companies may want to think about the type of lighting they use to promote wakefulness, offer energy promoting snacks for that middle of the day lull, provide nap rooms, explore corporate partnerships that offer sleep-related products/services as part of wellness perks (eg. gym memberships or subscription based relaxation apps).
Businesses may want to consider becoming more progressive in terms of offering flexible working hours. We know that people are biologically driven to sleep at different times (eg. early birds vs night owls) and alertness levels are impacted as a result, so by allowing people to choose their work hours (within reason) that matches their natural circadian rhythm, it may foster increased creativity, productivity, and efficiency.
And then looking outward to their clientele, businesses may also want to start thinking about integrating sleep-related content, services or products to meet this growing consumer demand.
Is there an example of how a company has integrated sleep health into their consumer messaging?
Absolutely. Chanel approached me to run a sleep masterclass that would compliment an exclusive product highlight event for their VIP clients. The line of skincare they were promoting was designed to regenerate skin while sleeping. In order to enrich the experience for their clientele and provide a value add, they hired me to educate their clients about the benefits of sleep for skin health, identify some ways to unwind at night, model some relaxation techniques to promote better sleep and offer practical tips to improve sleep quality.
This event was a success for all parties involved. The consumer got a bespoke experience and walked away with a concrete understanding of the relationship between sleep and skincare health and sleep and stress, as well as ways on how to improve their sleep. The vendor hit their sales targets while providing a desired well-being service to their client.
I really see a future in these types of partnerships. With sleep increasingly captivating consumer interest, it makes sense for companies to capitalize on this.
BIO:
Talia Shapero is a certified adult sleep coach, consultant and sleep educator. She helps her clients understand how their sleep patterns, behaviours, lifestyle choices and other conditions may be impacting their sleep and helps them apply evidence-based solutions that are simple, specific, achievable and long-lasting.
Talia offers 1:1 consultations, runs group and corporate workshops and works with brands and other organizations. She has a private practice and also works at Inspired Wellness, HealthOne, and Inkblot Therapy.
FB/IG: @taliashaperosleep
