- Creativity suffers. Our brain continues to work when we rest. One way it works is by making novel connections that don’t happen as easily during wakefulness. If you rob yourself of sleep you may be robbing yourself of creative insights that otherwise could enhance your leadership.
- We don’t recharge our brains and our bodies. The body needs to reset its physiological processes each day to keep in balance (called homeostasis). If you don’t get enough, you can keep your body from resetting its chemical balances. As a result, chronic lack of sleep can put your body in a stress state which keeps the stress hormone cortisol constantly in our system, which damages our bodies and brains.
What can you do if you believe you have a sleepy leader’s brain? I list several suggestions in this prior post where you can take a quiz and learn if you are sleep deprived.
This article on the sleepy leader’s brain originally appeared here, and is used by permission. Charles Stone and his wife, Sherryl, have a heart for pastors and pastors’ wives. We’ve taught hundreds of pastors and their wives in the United States, Canada, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, Cuba, and Mexico.
