How sleep debt quietly reshapes strategic choices
Protect the conditions for strategic review without claiming that a sleep study can forecast the quality of a particular investment decision.
The performance question
Strategy often combines uncertain forecasts, competing priorities and lengthy papers. When travel or repeated late work reduces sleep opportunity, a leader’s own feeling of coping is not a sufficient control. Discuss scheduling and cover without demanding private sleep or medical records.
What the evidence supports
Van Dongen and colleagues studied 48 healthy adults under laboratory conditions. Restricted sleep opportunities over fourteen days produced cumulative cognitive deficits, while subjective sleepiness did not track the deterioration well. The trial did not measure board decisions or commercial returns.[1]
A practical approach
Before a strategy meeting, inspect the business schedule for overnight travel, consecutive late calls and unrealistic preparation windows. Arrange a rested deputy, distribute papers earlier and move discretionary decisions where needed. A leader experiencing persistent sleep difficulties should seek clinical advice rather than rely on workplace productivity techniques.
How to review progress
Check whether papers are read in time and whether the meeting considers credible alternatives. Avoid converting laboratory findings into a percentage loss of executive performance. Review work design with the leader, focusing on changes the organisation can make.
Sources and references
- The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness Opens in a new tab
Van Dongen and colleagues, SLEEP, 2003
Original laboratory trial: design, results and conclusions