The Importance of Sleep for Employee Health and Wellbeing
In this interview, we are discussing the importance of sleep with Michael Hildebrandt, Sleep Coach.
Many people don't prioritise sleep, and they don't realise the impact it can have on their health, mood and productivity. It is a hot topic within the smart building industry, as people want healthier buildings that are optimised to improve employees health and wellbeing in a post COVID world; this focus will only strengthen further, as employees will not want to go back into the workplace if they don't feel that it is safe, or if it does not add any benefits they don't get from working from home.
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Michael, would you like to start off by introducing yourself and tell us a bit about how you became a sleep coach?
Yeah, Hi, Lyndsay. Years ago, I was a high-performance coach, and I always got a good night's sleep, but then I slipped a disc in my back, which robbed me of my sleep. I only got two to three hours of sleep per night, which left me feeling like a zombie. So at some point, I had to tackle that; making a long story short, I'm a big fan of meditation, and at some point, I just had this personal insight that I had to move to sleep coaching. From doing my research, I saw sleep was becoming an epidemic; people are really having problems sleeping. As a society, I got more aware of how we treat sleep, and I thought, okay, becoming a sleep coach is probably a better way to bring value to the world.
I've definitely heard that before, where experts are even advising doctors to prescribe sleep to people with certain health conditions because, as you said, it has become an epidemic.
Would you like to explain in your own words why you think we should all prioritise sleep? And why you value sleep so much?
Essentially, it's a very selfish reason. I want to feel good. I want to feel energised; I want to feel productive; I want to be looking forward to this interview. Beyond that, sleep is essential for health; if you don't get quality sleep, you don't operate at your peak performance.
Sleep is a fascinating topic; I'm actually reading a book at the moment about the psychology of sleep and understanding what goes on in the brain throughout the 24-hour cycle, but especially when we're sleeping. So do you want to talk a little bit about that?
So I think we all know that we should get somewhere between seven and nine hours of sleep per night as an adult. But that's not one big chunk; our sleep is structured in cycles. So we run through around five sleep cycles every night. Every sleep cycle is structured in a way that we run through different sleep stages. So it's not like we fall asleep, and then we're in a state where nothing happens; rather, the opposite is the case. A lot is going on in our brains. So when we're active, our brainwaves are very active; they're going around 30 hertz, 30 waves per second. When we sleep, that's beta brainwave territory; we run through different sleep stages, taking those brainwaves down from light sleep to deep sleep.
Sleep allows our brains to detox, removing beta-amyloid poisons; they are flushed out of the brain 10 to 20 times more efficiently than when we're awake.
Our brains are also highly active when running through all the information that we took in throughout the day. So when we're dreaming, REM dream stage, we're very active, nearly as active as when we're awake. This dream state is very important for us. Sleep scientists are still doing a lot of research around tagging what is important to us—understanding what we are going to remember from the days activities after sleeping. This is important when we're talking about productivity, e.g. if I do research, I want to remember it. I don't want to forget everything, so REM sleep, light sleep and deep sleep are crucial.
But also, it's our built-in therapy system. If we're not in a good mood, if we've not got emotional balance, this is going to affect our relationships and ability to work effectively.
The modern Western world is that it's rebelling against our natural desire to wind down and get a good night's sleep; it's been developed to be 'always on'. There are lots of modern-day distractions, entertainment, work, technology, devices etc. that consume more and more of our time; this then eats into the time when we should be sleeping.
Which, as you said, has caused a whole host of health problems, both physical and mental. As we've developed as humans, we're spending more time indoors. This can profoundly affect how we feel; things like air quality, ventilation, light, screen time, our workplace, where we relax, exposure to natural light, etc., all have a profound effect. All of these things are really important, but in your opinion, how has this 'always on' modern-day society affected our sleep?
I'd like to start with the phrase 'always-on', its constant distraction and stress. We're checking our smartphones, getting emails; we're all over the place.
A good night's sleep is the result of a well-spent day. If we have high levels of stress and distraction, not relaxing before bed, we're going to have a hard time falling asleep. If we don't sleep well, it can turn into a vicious cycle very quickly.
If we don't get enough sleep, our amygdala, our emotional centre, fires up to 60% more. So what does that mean? That amygdala is the fight or flight emotion, which was good in the past. But if you experience this state for prolonged periods, you feel stressed, cortisol levels shoot up over the course of the day, and you have a hard time switching off.
What would be your top tips for organisations to ensure that they can help make employees sleep a priority when they do go back to the workplace?
Essentially I think that's a part of a company's culture; it's essential that the top-level managers of a company believe in the importance of sleep.
There are very practical things that they can do as company leaders, like creating awareness, sending out newsletters, creating resting spaces in the company, giving employees sleep trackers for free, annual health check-ups etc.
I think we've probably all worked in organisations where overworking is glorified. If you work until 10 p.m., you're seen as a really good employee. But actually, how productive are you when you work late at night, and how productive will you then be the next day?
Ironically, we are told to stay off digital devices before bed because obviously, the blue light emitted suppresses our sleep hormone, melatonin. But we're seeing an influx of apps and sleep tech on the market now that help us fall asleep. So what are your thoughts on that? Are there any you would recommend? Or do you not recommend them?
I love peak performance. I love tech. But you know, as a sleep coach, my first recommendation would be to be aware that sleep is a natural process. So you do not need anything to help you achieve the state of sleep. You just need to take care of your priorities, sleep in a quiet environment, block out light as much as possible, use common sense.
I think the iPhone was one of the first to introduce nightshift, which blocks out blue light. But as a rule of thumb, I would say try to just acknowledge that everybody can sleep naturally.
Generally speaking, I think there are good apps that you can use for meditations or to remind yourself to go to sleep. Also, technology such as intelligent lighting systems is great because tech should work for us without too much effort. We can put this into the office, for example, and light up the walls so that sufficient light gets in our eyes at the right angles. What would that do for the productivity of the employees and wellbeing? And what would it do for their health and all the costs that relate to less employee sickness?
I suppose, from an employer's point of view, it doesn't matter how smart your building is; if it isn't a comfortable environment that is optimised for employees needs, then they're never going to get the output that they expect from them.
Smart circadian lighting has gained a lot of traction recently; COVID has definitely accelerated that demand further. The premise of circadian lighting is that it supports our sleep-wake cycle. And as we know, the brain resets our circadian rhythm based on light. Do you want to just explain a little bit about the impact of light on our sleep-wake cycle?
As you mentioned earlier, we've got little receptors in our eyes, and these receptors react to light, particularly blue light. So when we get that little sign in our eyes, they transport that information to a thing called the SCN, and this is the main clock in our brain. We've got millions of inner clocks; every cell has a clock, but the SCN is responsible for controlling circadian rhythms. When it comes to nighttime, the blue light disappears from natural light. This gives the signal to the SCN and tells the pineal gland to produce melatonin. Melatonin is known as the sleep hormone; it signals to our entire body that it's time to fall asleep. So this cycle can only work in sync with nature if we give it the light that it expects to get. If we mess up, because like you just mentioned we're watching TV and using electrical devices in the evening, which emit blue light, it's going to work against us.
An application area that we've seen be particularly beneficial is circadian light and within care homes. So obviously, residents tend to spend the majority of their day indoors under artificial light. So this is when full spectrum circadian plus lighting can have a real positive impact. The idea of a smart care home is obviously that it's optimised for residents health and wellbeing, but ultimately, their sleep-wake cycle is the most important, especially if you've got someone with dementia or specific eye conditions. Have you got much experience in this area? Do you want to talk a little bit about how sleep can differ in an older adult?
Generally speaking, sleep changes when we get older, but I think the biggest thing that changes most often is our sleep structure. So people now have a nap in the afternoon and sleep a little bit less at nighttime. That said, obviously, lifestyle changes have an impact too. If you're living in a care home and don't get the social interactions you used to have, you don't have things you need to get done, and you don't get outside often, that is going to have a big mental impact on sleep.
I know from research that we've done in conjunction with Newcastle University and projects that we've worked on, we've seen a really positive impact on residents after the installation of circadian lighting. Getting better quality sleep, therefore, means that engagement levels are higher during the day. Residents aren't feeling as lethargic; they want to join in in activities. They do not want to just laze around in their chair and watch TV or have a nap. Something else, which is really interesting, is we've actually seen a reduction in the number of falls a care home would usually experience, simply because their circadian rhythm is more in sync. And also, on a very basic level, there is a higher level of illumination so they can actually see where they are walking, which is obviously going to impact people's health and safety massively.
So let's discuss alternatives to light for a second. So it's not all about circadian lighting. It's about letting natural light in as well or blocking that natural light out. So as you said before, making sure you've got blackout blinds that can allow you to get a good night's sleep or it's about in a care home, for instance, look at alternatives for the little green emergency light so that it doesn't impact sleep. Have you got any top tips that allow us to prioritise sleep?
I think I'd just like to emphasise the importance of technology that works for humans. We've got all of this research, all of this knowledge, now we've got all of the technology so people shouldn't have to think about sleep anymore, it should enhance their life seamlessly. For example, when it comes to the homes of the elderly, the light doesn't have to be on all the time; we've got sensors that can detect movement. So we could detect if somebody wants to leave the bed and just turn on the light, then we could pick certain colour ranges to have circadian friendly light tones in the night if somebody just wants to go to the toilet.
So I think it's up to technology to create software and devices that are extremely smart so that people don't have to think about how it works; it should integrate into their lives no matter whether that's in the workplace, school or home.