God created sleep not only to cure fatigue, but to serve our bodies and brains in many beneficial ways. Unfortunately, many leaders, especially pastors, try to lead without getting adequate sleep and live with a sleepy leader’s brain. When we don’t get enough, our brains don’t work as well. Thus, we don’t lead at our best. No wonder products like the best heated mattress pad can be of great use.
Here’s what the experts tell us happens to our brains when we don’t get adequate sleep.
- Our memory is impaired. Sleep helps turn short term memory into long-term memory (called consolidation) by strengthening memory traces. Lack of sleep hinders this process.
- We don’t learn as well. Related to memory, when our memory is impaired, learning suffers.
- We can’t control our emotions as well. Emotional control (called emotional regulation) best happens when we think most clearly. Any lack keeps our executive thinking center (called the pre-frontal cortex) from operating most effectively.
