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In today's edition of "things I wish I'd have paid more attention to before my late thirties": SLEEP! Sleep is the most oft overlooked pillar of performance but has arguably some of the most significant impacts. How many of us grew up idolizing the leader who never slept? 1/
https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_3?crid=263PYX6PCDDKR&dchild=1&keywords=why+we+sleep+book+matthew+walker&qid=1598271164&sprefix=why+we+sleep%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-3 I submit that is wrong. Quality sleep is so important to performance, happiness, and overall well being. Start with this book! I re-read it periodically and its always just as fascinating as the first time. Why do we sleep? What is good sleep? Nerd out!.
Now that you're smart, sleep tracking is next! Sure, your phone or Fitbit does this- but I've used a dedicated sleep tracker for a couple of years and love it. I use the Oura ring ( https://ouraring.com/ ). Tracking sleep helps you see trends and correlations.
For example, one thing sleep tracking did for me was to highlight the impacts of alcohol on recovery and performance. Here you'll see a "normal" night of sleep; no alcohol, heart rate drops early and dips into the 40s. This is good recovery time! Lots of deep&REM sleep as well.
This is sleep after a couple of bourbons and a cigar. Yikes! long time to lower, and stays in the mid 50's. This is a garbage night of sleep... and if you're doing this to yourself every night, you're never recovering or reaching for peak performance. Moderation!
Trends over time are helpful. See that dip in Jan/Feb/March? Was training for a marathon. Serious physical punishment! But look at the dip in April. I stopped training-Pandemic hit! STRESS took over. Point: Stress took more of a toll on me than running 30+ miles per week.
Tracking sleep will help you see these trends- and balance the other levers to get you back on track. Early in COVID I was eating garbage, sleeping like crap, etc. as we started to adjust. I quickly acknowledged and got back on track... as you see the slow climb out of April.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RWRJ4XW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Next- sleep hygiene. No screens in the bedroom! Charge your phone in another room so you aren't tempted to reach for it at 0300 when you can't sleep. Plenty of literature on sleep hygiene... DO IT. Bed is for sleep and sex only! Also, get one of these:
Lastly- if you think this is all chicken little junk science, I promise it's not. POOR SLEEP/ SLEEP DISORDERS HAVE BEEN LINKED TO OVER 50% OF VETERAN SUICIDES. If you're a leader, you have a duty to talk to your troops about their sleep- get out there and make sleep great again!
and I'm betting that @ThCounselingVet can come off the top rope on that last one with some reinforcing fires.
