Another Secret Benefit Of Sleep For Leaders?

We all "know" how vital Sleep is to our health.

It's nearly impossible to listen to anyone talk about "health" or "wellness" without hearing SOMETHING about sleep.

It's true, we need sleep for various reasons we all know and are well documented - recovery, digestion, HRV improvement, circadian rhythms, and glymphatic clearance to name a few.

However, I was just reading something that spoke of another potential benefit of sleep that would be of tremendous value to Leaders!

A Secret Benefit Of Sleep?

One of the side effects of getting less sleep is that we get less REM sleep.

REM is an incredibly important aspect of sleep where a lot of benefits take place.

However, one of the other aspects of REM sleep is that this is where we actually Dream.

According to one researcher, not only are we "Sleep-Deprived" (as we all well know), but we may also be "Dream-Deprived".

Why Is It Important?

While there is still a lot unknown about Dreams, there are some theories that have been discussed about the importance of sleep.

Our bodies are incredibly efficient and there are many processes that they do which we don't fully understand.

However, it is incredibly rare (if it ever happens at all) that our bodies do anything without purpose.

So, there is strong reason to believe that Dreams have an important purpose in our lives, and are necessary to a healthy life.

Many religions have made attempts to explain the importance of Dreams, but that would be a topic outside of what I will speak on now.

Here are some of the more scientifically-based theories of why Dreaming may be incredibly important.

➼ Awareness

There is a lot of reason to believe that Dreams are a way that our brains attempt to bring awareness of certain things to ourselves.

It could be that "consciously" we have not put certain ideas together, but "unconsciously" our minds have, and one of the mediums to tell us these thoughts is through dreams.

We know from the research that our unconscious mind is able to process information at incredibly faster speeds than our conscious mind is able.

There has been a comparison made that doing work in our conscious mind is like working on a sticky note while doing work in our unconscious mind is like working on a NASA Super Computer.

It would be reasonable to think that to "convert" that information from the Super Computer to the Sticky Note is incredibly difficult to do.

This could be one of the places where Dreams become important.

It may be one of the processes in which these "conversions" occur which allow us access to that "higher-processed" information.

This would mean that the dreams act in a way to bring awareness to that information.

As a Leader, this is incredibly important.

As you grow as a Leader, you will need to process more information.

There are more projects, more team members, more competition, more at stake, more challenges, and more of pretty much everything.

To process all of that consciously would be an impossible task, so you will need to rely more on unconscious processes in order to move fast enough in our world.

Dreams may be one of the mechanisms allowing you to successfully accomplish this.

➼ Creativity

Many people know that Dreams can be.... wonky.

All sorts of weird and strange phenomena happen in Dreams.

I myself have experienced flight and the ability to breathe underwater during Dreams (no success in real life yet, but I'll keep you posted).

But there may be a secret benefit in all of the strangeness that we don't give enough credence to.

These may all be aspects of our own internal creativity.

Creativity requires us to look at things in different ways, challenge the beliefs and perspectives that are held onto, and stretch the limits of what we believe is possible.

Our Dreams may actually be a form of extension of this process.

It might possibly be that our brains are literally going through creative processes that we see visually, which later allow us the ability to process our conscious thoughts in different ways.

You could call it a form of creative exercise - just like how lifting weights is physical exercise.

The more our brains practice being "creative", the easier it becomes to enact creativity when we need it.

This becomes extremely beneficial as successful Leaders need to think outside the box, adapt new strategies never attempted before, and look at problems in ways no one else has done.

➼ Existential Health

We all face existential questions in our lives.

What is the meaning "of" life?

What is the meaning "in" life?

Some people answer these questions through religious beliefs (like myself), but it is not a strict requirement.

Some simply find or "create" a purpose in their life by striving toward a huge goal.

Regardless of how you go about answering these questions, the fact remains that we "all" share these questions in our lives.

Some of the research being done around sleep seems to show that perhaps dreams are a way for our body to help us answer some of these questions.

When you dive into Neurology research, our brains seem to hold two different aspects as "true" in our lives.

Parts of our brain form an "I", as in who am "I" as compared to "others" and there is a clear distinction that is created.

However, other aspects of our brain form an "Us", as in we are connected to a larger "Us" in life that literally cannot distinguish the difference between different "I"'s.

In certain cases of Strokes, people have reported that the "I" has literally vanished, and only an "Us" remains.

One woman reported that she couldn't distinguish between her arm and the bathroom wall during a stroke she had.

Others experience an "Us" through less dire ways - religious ceremonies, moments of awe, or Flow States.

When people have experiences of this "Us", they tend to believe that they have answers to the Existential questions that we all have.

We also know that during sleep, parts of our brain will literally disconnect from bodily functions.

This occurs when people experience sleep paralysis - they literally cannot move because those aspects of their brains have shut down.

When we combine these things, it is possible that Dreams are a way for us to understand these Existential Questions we have.

Our "I" shuts down, and our brains can better process an "Us" allowing us to understand that portion of our brains better.

Leaders who feel more confident in answering the Existential questions we all have generally have more confidence in life and become significantly more attractive to follow.

We all like to follow people who believe they truly understand themselves and their place in the world.