Sleep – Nick Littlehales (2016)
Sleep – Nick Littlehales (2016)
As a more recent addition to the trending area of sleep-based performance enablement, Nick Littlehales takes a slightly different approach to many of the authors, including two we have previously recommended Shawn Stephenson and Arianna Huffington. As always I’m a believer in offering several approaches so that leaders can find the groove that works best for them, around both work demands and lifestyle preferences.
Whilst there are numerous overlaps and consistencies with Littlehales book and various others (tech-free pre-sleep period, ‘managed’ sleep environment, sleep breaks through the day if needed, guidance on nutrition and stimulant intake) there are two major differences in his approach.
The first is to have a total weekly sleep target, rather than a consistent number to aspire to each night. This he finds is more realistic, having worked with sports people and entertainers as much as business people, where schedules can be dictated by events, games and performances. Removing the nightly 8 hour target takes away much of the negativity associated with having a ‘bad night’, and also makes the overall goal much more achievable for those whose sleep time varies due to work and other commitments.
Where he does demand consistency, and the second major difference from other author’s I’ve read, is around wake and rise time, rather than a fixed bed time. This again I’ve personally found to be much more achievable even with demanding work travel schedules, and does provide the much-needed rhythm around which to hinge an effective, enabling sleep routine.
Littlehales’ approach will not be for all, he’s very passionate about ‘sterile’ sleep spaces with as close to zero stimulation as possible, not only tech-free but image and sensory free also (art, photos etc) but as always, pick and chose what works for you and I can almost guarantee that there’s something here that will help you improve your sleep, and concurringly your performance too!
This will be of interest to;
- Leading seeking to improve the quality of their sleep
- Leaders looking to develop more consistent performance with more regular sleep patterns
- Leaders seeking to improve their sleep whilst still having irregular travel, work location or home-life demands.
