With a young family and a sometimes-heavy travel schedule, I’ve always been mindful of the value of sleep.Β I’m a fan of an afternoon power-nap rather than a coffee, and believe in the power of uninterrupted sleep.
McKinsey has published a great article on this that outlines some of the research behind the need for sleep.Β Among other things the article highlights that:
Scientists have found that sleep deprivation impairs this ability to focus attention selectively. Research shows that after roughly 17 to 19 hours of wakefulness (letβs say at 11 PM or 1 AM for someone who got up at 6 AM), individual performance on a range of tasks is equivalent to that of a person with a blood-alcohol level of 0.05 percent. Thatβs the legal drinking limit in many countries. After roughly 20 hours of wakefulness (2 AM), this same personβs performance equals that of someone with a blood-alcohol level of 0.1 percent, which meets the legal definition of drunkenness in the United States
The infographic below is useful:
You can read the full article here: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organizational-cost-of-insufficient-sleep