Sleep Like a Baby, Live Like a Superhero

Chimera Communications' MC and Brighton Chamber Vice-President Jill Woolf recently caught up with Brighton Summit workshop leader Alison Prangnell of Anderida Coaching. Alison is a Master NLP Coach and Clinical Hypnotherapist, with a passion for health and mindset in life and business. Her workshop is called Sleep Like a Baby, Live Like a Superhero.

Alison Prangnell

Here we learn more about Alison and why she wanted to be part of the Summit.

Jill: When, how and why did you become a Stress Management Consultant and Performance Coach

Alison: I started my own business two years ago after coaching part-time around my old day job. I was inspired to work in stress management because of my own journey.

Like many people I worked in environments with a lot of stress, either because of culture and management style, volume of work, or the way I handled it. I got burnout and became pretty ill.

When I had burnout, it was before everyone started talking about it. I went to the GP and all I got was a shrug of the shoulders. It’s better now, I know, but I had to learn from the ground up how to make myself well again.

So, I combined this knowledge with my experience of management in fast-growing SMEs with coaching skills like NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) to help businesses and their people become more resilient and create a culture that doesn’t fuel stress, burnout and illness.

The result is happier, more motivated people and a more profitable business.

Jill: What type of people come to you for help and what are the main causes of their issues?

Alison: I work with senior execs through to anyone experiencing stress in their day-to-day lives.

People believe the major factor in their stress is work, which can’t be denied but what many people don’t have a clear sight of is how many other factors contribute to their stress experience. If you take control and do something positive, you can significantly reduce your stress symptoms by managing all the other factors and become more resilient, physically and mentally.

We can’t eliminate stress, it’s a programmed response to a situation. What we need to get better at is recognising and managing our response to those situations, which is easier than many people think. 

Jill: Do you advocate the old adage that we need eight hours’ sleep?

Alison: The sleep you have and when you need it will vary from person to person and their circadian rhythm. Science supports the idea that most people need between 6-8 hours’ sleep. As most people will have experienced, if you aren’t getting enough sleep your ability to think and make decisions, along with your emotions and energy, will all quickly get out of kilter.

People believe they are still performing but the less sleep you get, the more mistakes you make (as confirmed by a study by The Lancet). There will be other factors that affect your personal sleep requirement including circadian rhythm, metabolism, the level of physical or mental stress you are under, your overall health etc.

There are those who say, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, feel they are superhuman and don’t need much sleep. It’s a fallacy. Science shows they are shortening their lifespan by restricting their sleep and pushing themselves at maximum for the rest of the time.

Our systems simply aren’t built for it and we start to get ill. It is safer to go by the benchmark of 6-8 hours and adapt according to your lifestyle and physiological needs. It really is that simple.

Putting it even simpler, we teach our children they need sleep. If they don’t get it, let’s face it, they melt down and all hell breaks loose, then we’re desperate to make sure they get the right amount of sleep the next night! Yet as adults we suddenly believe we are now different. We aren’t. Our brains and bodies need to recharge.

Jill: If you’re someone who sleeps badly, can you ever ‘catch up’?

Alison: No, not really. There isn’t a sleep bank you can draw on. If you’re tired, you need to allow your body to sleep. The best advice is if you’ve had a week, say at a conference where you’re burning the candle at both ends, get back into your proper sleep routine with full sleep cycles as quickly as possible. That way your body can get you back on track quicker.

Jill: It’s easy to believe that lack of sleep is a phenomenon which has materialised over the last 20 or 30 years, but has it always been so and we just haven’t talked about it or is it more to do with the increasing use of technology, which was meant to make life easier for us?!

Alison: People have always found it hard to sleep at some time or another, we’re human after all. Particularly in times of stress our sleep can suffer, they can be intrinsically linked. Having said that, some people who are stressed sleep for England. I always did!

Technology is a big contributing factor, it has insinuated itself into our every waking minute and our bedrooms. It’s designed to be addictive, keeping your brains awake even when your sleep cycle needs your brain to start slowing down to get that sleep you crave. Playing on your mobile phone all evening won’t help you sleep better. Period.

But there are so many other factors and that’s why you can’t look at sleep in isolation, it is modern life overall. We have busier lives where we are on the go all the time, desperately trying to balance families and work, invading our personal lives through technology, and we feel like we have too little time for relaxation.

Factor in the explosion in the volume of sugar and caffeine (and alcohol) we have been consuming - all of which are sleep disruptors; even our exercise regimes. We run out of time and try and do a workout late at night which again disrupts our ability to sleep properly.  

If we want better sleep and less stress then making small incremental changes (which we can manage when things feel fraught and we don’t want yet another task on the to-do list) will start making big differences. All of this is manageable even though it might not seem like it at first glance.

Jill: In your opinion, does it follow that the higher up you are in an organisation, the less sleep you get – or need?

Alison: Well if you are an exec who wants to make the best decisions make sure you get some sleep!

But no, however high up in the organisation you are, you’re still a human that needs sleep. It shouldn’t be dependent on the organisation and your rank as to how much sleep you get but if work is giving you sleepless nights, it needs to be addressed.

This applies to everyone though, at every level in the organisation, front line or backstage. Everyone has pressures that apply to them individually. What is certain is that lack of sleep will affect your team’s productivity, engagement and effectiveness. The idea that you should just keep pushing yourself or your employees harder is self-defeating for your business performance, whether you are an exec or an employee.

Jill: Tell me about your workshop for the Summit. Great title, by the way.

Alison: The workshop at the event is a taster of the longer one I offer businesses and individuals. So many people don’t understand all the factors they could change, even just a tiny bit, to get better sleep and a better quality of life.

Improve the quality of your sleep (it’s not always about quantity) and your health, relationships and performance in work, sport or flying the world with your superhero cape can only improve.

Jill: What will attendees get out of the session?

Alison: They’ll understand sleep better and how important it is overall, not just relieving them from feeling frazzled. They’ll go away with quick wins – practical ideas to help them start improving their sleep cycles and energy after the session. Most of all, they’ll learn how they can get greater control over what’s happening rather than feeling at the mercy of the ticking clock by the bedside.

Jill: How do you sleep?

Alison: Very well! I love my sleep. I know I need eight hours’ sleep and I try and manage my days to ensure I get it. If I have an early morning, I go to bed earlier making sure I get full sleep cycles. If I get disrupted sleep, I know there’s something else I need to work on during the day.

Jill: How can we book on to your half or full-day sleep workshops and where do they take place? (I might well see you there soon 😊)

Alison: I offer in-house workshops for businesses and public sessions throughout the year people can book on individually. I advocate the full-day events as you can really start getting down to the details and put a personalised plan together as well as learn some self-hypnosis techniques.

Businesses can contact me directly regarding internal workshops on alison@anderidacoaching.co.uk and sessions are posted on www.anderidacoaching.co.uk New dates are being scheduled at the moment!

 *Brighton Summit is THE business conference for the Brighton area and takes place annually. This year it's on Friday 11th October. See www.brightonsummit.co.uk for more info.