Dr Jemma King from UQ’s School of Psychology featured in a Forbes article discussing the importance of high quality sleep for team leaders.
The research demonstrates the impact grogginess has not only on an individuals’ health and wellbeing, but on their ability to lead effectively and build high performing teams.
Dr King said from an evolutionary standpoint a lack of sleep can signal to our bodies that we are under threat, causing stress hormones to be activated.
“Our evolutionary ancestors only missed sleep for good reasons, like to hunt or if they were being hunted,” Dr King said.
“We still house the same stress responses and neural architecture in our modern skulls today.
“Research shows that sleep deprived individuals are less likely to trust others and be cooperative, and are more likely to be selfish.
“They have a shorter term focus and a reduced capacity to hold several concepts in their working memory.”