We’re all pretty fond of it. Plenty of us lament the fact we just can’t seem to get enough of it. And studies have proven the benefits of it. Now, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington is telling us that sleep could be the missing piece of your career success.
Huffington’s been on a mission to get anyone who’ll listen to slow down and take a nap since the day she collapsed from exhaustion and cut her face open, and realised it was time for her to “renew her estranged relationship with sleep”.
Since then, Huffington’s been a vocal advocate of “sleeping your way to the top”, calling herself a “sleep evangelist”, and promoting the nap rooms available at Huffington Post headquarters.
She backs her sleep promotion message with the acknowledgement that although women have made great strides in the workplace, there is still a “delusional” belief that ultra-productivity goes hand in hand with cutting back on sleep to fit more in.
Huffington believes too many people equate a lack of sleep with success, which often leads them to mistakenly think a lack of sleep should be used as a “bragging” device.
Such thinking, adds Huffington in a recent post for the Harvard Business Review, has created a workplace culture fuelled by “sleep-deprivation” and “burnout”.
It’s also created a model of success that is particularly destructive, especially to women because “sleep often comes low on the totem pole”.
Huffington says now is the time for women to rethink the idea of success based on stress.
“More employers and employees alike are acknowledging the current model of success isn’t working…[instead it’s] leading to burnout, stress, decreased productivity and an epidemic of sleep deprivation”.
She writes that sleep underpins our ability to function, and that there’s not one element of success that’s not improved by sleep, or diminished by fatigue.
But we all know it’s not always easy to find time for a good night’s sleep. So what’s Huffington’s advice for getting back?
Break the 24/7 cycle, she says.
In a hyper-connected world, constantly being attached to email and internet has made people ultra-vigilant and has caused the current generation more stress than ever before.
Huffington believes we should ban digital devices in the bedroom. “If we don’t learn to disconnect from technology and really connect with ourselves, we will become fried,” she wrote in 2010.
Ready to commit yourself to more sleep? Check out these 10 quick tips for getting a good night’s sleep.