Why Business Leaders Exercise, Eat well …and Sleep!

To be effective in business, you need to be at the top of your game,

otherwise, you are just surviving in business… and these days, that is a slow slide backwards as the ambitious and young enter your space and compete with you daily.

We used to believe that working long hours and spending more time behind our desks is the way to get ahead, but research shows that many bosses will happily have you working 7 hours a day for 4 days a week if it means you will be more effective.

So what does a “more Effective” employee look like? Its simple, the have:

Better Focus & Attention
Better Memory
More Creative problem-solving skills
The ability to change the atmosphere in a room.

So how do we sharpen these skills of ours? The answer is actually simpler than you might expect.

Exercise

You are already working 12 and 14-hour days, where must you fit in exercise… right? Well, here’s the thing. If you take 20-30 minutes a day, you will probably be able to cut your workday down significantly.

Studies have shown that a typical business person will spend on average about 47% of their time thinking of something else. Not focusing on the task at hand means that you are simply not getting it done as fast as you should be.

As a coach, I have seen that getting kids who struggle to focus into sports, help them train their brain to focus. A Child that could not sit still for 5 minutes can sit through a math class solving problems after they have done an archery session. Now you would think that it is simply a matter of learning to pay attention, but the fact is that studies have also shown that simple physical exercise improves the functioning of all aspects connected to your nervous system.

The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience published a study that shows increased memory ability after only 6 weeks of 20-minute interval training sessions, and a 2014 study at Stanford shows a creative output increase of an average of 60% by simply taking time to walk.

But what about changing the atmosphere in a room? Well, apart from the release of endorphins (that reduce the perception of pain, causes euphoric feelings of contentment, drastically reduces stress while boosting self-esteem and actively functions to combat depression), the simple act of exercising makes people believe they also look better to others. Combined with the other benefits of increased focus, better memory skills and better creative problem solving, the confidence in your own abilities will keep you cool under pressure with an ability to communicate clearer and get your message heard and respected.

These days it is hard to find a successful business person who does not incorporate some form of exercise on a regular basis.

Food

Now the ideas surrounding food, diets and when you must eat how much seems to be changing every year, and everywhere you look, somebody will claim this berry or that root will cause amazing changes in your life. True or not, you can test them for yourself, but there are some real, down-to-earth facts that impacts your day when it comes to what you put into your body… and it doesn’t involve Kale!

Although your body is amazing, and you can live on junk food, some studies show that you are VERY LIKELY to experience loss of productivity when indulging in unhealthy foods… in fact, you are 66% more likely to drop your productivity. Something that can literally be turned around by simply eating fruits instead of snacks during the workday.

Just a little bit of common sense should take care of your decisions surrounding your general nutrition (and have a look at the health benefits of intermittent fasting while you are looking up stuff on the internet)

Another area that is really simple to manage is Hydration.

Drink Water… Drink Enough Water…

Not being sufficiently hydrated means you open yourself up to a bunch of little irritants, including irritated eyes, blurred vision and headaches. If you can’t see properly and you keep on having to reach for a pain pill, you are not going to be productive. Becoming dehydrated also tends to dry out your skin, which leaves it prone to irritation, and if you are already irritated when going into a difficult meeting, you are not going to come out feeling refreshed!

Don’t have food delivered to your desk or office. Get up and walk to fetch some decent nutrition. “Good” food is a source of energy to fuel your body through the day and walking gets your creative problem-solving juices flowing!

Oh… and before you reach for the coffee to wake you up. Coffee is a diuretic. A water driver that actually helps speed up the dehydration process. So although the caffeine can give you a bit of a kick, the fatigue and loss of focus from dehydration will hit back faster than you think. Rather reach for your water bottle and snacks high in iron. (also, berries and fruits high in vitamin C helps with iron absorption)

…and Sleep!

Sleep is the next big thing! No seriously… those sleep trackers are actually valuable because your body was meant to rest and reset!

Unlike Global Warming or the “best diet” for your body type, in this one science agrees. Sleep is a critical part of your survival. Not getting enough sleep is like not putting petrol in your car… you are simply not going to get to the end of your journey.

In the short term, lack of sleep decreases your ability to concentrate. It affects your ability to focus and keep focus. Your decision making becomes erratic. Creativity and problem solving simply tanks and your social skills and interpersonal communication dramatically deteriorates.

Oh… and nobody likes you because you become irritated and triggered at the smallest provocation.

Medium-term, your lack of sleep will show in weight gain, reduced immune efficiency, development of mood disorders and can actually lead to type 2 Diabetes.

In the long term, lack of sleep is linked to an increase of about 15% in the effects of other factors that decrease your life expectancy.

We used to think that you can’t sleep your way to a better life and that you can only stay awake for a worse one! (take a moment and listen to Arianna Huffington’s 4 minute TED Talk on Sleep Deprivation) but now we know that lack of sleep before a critical day can reduce your ability to take in connect and internalise new information by up to 40% !

Think about that… If you are to attend a conference, for which you or your company are paying a fair amount of money, but you don’t get a good night’s sleep because the rooms are noisy, or the lighting is harsh, or the beds are bad quality… that is a problem!

Not yet convinced? Watch this clip by Sleep Scientist, Matt Walker!