The Leap: Part 2

Sleep

Welcome to the second instalment of “The Leap”, a 6-part series where I share how I’m going about changing careers in life after Rugby.

In part 1, I shared why I prioritise my health over my work, and how that helps me to do my best work, and increase the chances I’ll succeed.

And for the rest of the series, I’ll share the nuts and bolts of how I do that. Enjoy!

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Sleep Tracking

I think one of the secrets to the Brumbies success has been our close proximity to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), and how we’ve benefited from working with some of the best minds in human performance research.

One study we partnered on was for sleep where players wore a bulky sleep tracking device to bed. The AIS would then collect the data to assess the quantity and quality of our sleep, and use it to identify players who needed help.

The old sleep study watch lol

But fast forward 5 years, and technology has improved so much that bulky wrist straps are no longer needed for sleep tracking, and can now been done with much smaller wristbands, watches, and even rings.

And despite already having an Apple watch, I purchased an Oura ring not long after retiring, and the lessons it’s taught me about my sleeping habits have changed my life.

No, I’m not sponsored by Oura lol

My Oura ring also tracks my “readiness” based on my Sleep, Body Temperature and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), which was also tested for at Brumbies every morning (using chest straps), so our trainers could judge how “ready to go” we were.

If the group was fresh, the training load went up. If the group was fatigued, the training load went down, and any players with very low scores where monitored closely to prevent injury and chronic fatigue, and I use this approach when deciding what work (and how much) to do each day.

Also I preferred the staff going off my data, and felt like a wuss whenever I put my hand up to say “I feel crap’”, and it was great to see the NBA use Oura rings to restart their season during the pandemic, and how it helped UFC star Daniel Cormier realise he had Covid-19.

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What I’ve learned about my sleep

We all know the benefits of good sleep, and focusing on getting a good night’s rest is helping me navigate the stressful time of starting my career again.

After a good sleep, my brain makes better decisions about work, and I’m able to focus for longer periods of time, which results in much better work being done, than when I’m tired.

And despite being known as a notoriously good sleeper and earned the nickname’s “Sloth” and “Tina Turn-er” (after my love of “turning in early”) during my playing days, I’ve learned that I was actually a terrible sleeper, and need 10+ hrs in bed (plus a nap) to function! A luxury my 3 young daughters fail to allow me.

Aaaooohhhh…. you simply need rest!

And because of that, I used to think I was a great sleeper too. But after tracking my sleep and experimenting with a few things, I now sleep better than ever and only aim for 5hrs of combined REM and Deep sleep per night.

I was a strong believer in “more is better”, but focusing on quality over quantity means I’m now more energised from less time in bed, and learned that I had habits that where sabotaging the quality of my sleep including:

1. Caffeine after 1pm

2. Alcohol in the evening (helped me fall asleep, but I’d wake up heaps during the night)

3. Eating within 3 hrs of bed time (see below)

   

   I was shocked when my ring called me out on a late night trip to the fridge!

4. Having my phone next to my bed

5. Not having a regular bedtime

6. Not allowing my brain time to unwind before bed

7. and I’ve learned how much making good progress at work during the day, helps me sleep better at night.

The last one has been profound, as work-related stress is now my biggest killer of a good sleep.

Eating close to bed time is another one, and if I could have my career over again, this is a piece of advice I’d strongly encourage a young Ben to take onboard.

But tracking my sleep has also helped me realise that if I wake up during the night with something on my mind (and preventing me from going back to sleep), then I should get up and write a plan of how I’m going to deal with it in the morning.

Pen and paper, notes app on a phone… whatever works

And while writing about my problems doesn’t fix them, it does make me feel better about them, and make progress towards a solution, which then helps me to have a good day and a better sleep the next night.

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I often wonder if I’m the only one who finds it hard to focus on their health AND get great work done?

Or is it that life has become so busy and full of distractions, that it’s impossible to ask our brains to keep track of everything, without the help of technology?

I’ve got so much going on inside my head, that unless I use technology to make a conscious effort to track my health, then I quickly forget about it and focus solely on work, which then causes me to fall back into bad habits, and into a heap soon after.

The dictionary says tracking is “to continue to be informed or know about someone or something” and I think there’s no more important “something” than one’s health.

And as technology continues to improve and makes tracking easier, I believe everyone will track their health in a similar way to how they already track their finances and work.

I’d love to know if you agree or disagree, so if have an opinion please leave a comment below.

Cheers.

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Thanks to everyone who messaged after part 1, as hearing that people are finding my writing helpful spurs me to keep it up, and I’ll be posting fortnightly from now on.

Up next, I’ll discuss another thing that’s helped keep me going… exercise.

The Leap:

Part 1 - Prioritising your health