Go to Bed to Get Ahead
by Tanya Stanfield
Founder & CEO, Road Warrior Strong
Back in August, I spoke to a group of consultants who wanted to improve their overall health and wellness in the face of grueling travel schedules. I shared the tips and tricks I’ve developed over the past several years that allow me to fit in regular physical activity, healthy meals, and mindfulness rituals - even when I travel for days at a time. Despite a few bumps in the road during my earlier business travel days, (aka 20 lbs. of extra weight and increased irritability), I managed to develop a system where now I’m traveling much lighter and, in many ways, living my best life even during the busiest of travel schedules.
After the talk, I felt pretty good about what had been covered, and the audience had some great questions. But within the first couple minutes of the Q & A portion, one consultant managed to uncover a gaping hole in my presentation. “How can I get better sleep on the road,” he asked? Another audience member quickly chimed in, “This is my biggest struggle when traveling! What can I do to get more sleep?”
Why Focus on Sleep?
Yes, I should have expected this question. After all, according to a recent study from researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and City University of New York, frequent flyers who travel two weeks or more per month report more trouble sleeping than those who go on business trips one to six nights a month.
And after years of hearing business leaders and even world dignitaries boast about their ability to get by on very little shut-eye, sleep is making a comeback! It’s the cornerstone of Ariana Huffington’s recent foray into the growing wellness content arena, Thrive Global. Big hotel chains are even following along, as seen in Westin’s “Let’s Rise” campaign and their Heavenly Beds. And twice this week friends have referred me to the hottest book in sleep science by neuroscientist Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep.
So why do many of us (including yours truly) continue to operate as if getting by on little sleep is no big deal? Perhaps it’s because we don’t realize we’re operating at a deficiency. We don’t know that improved memory, mood, immunity, weight, athletic performance, and yes, even finances are all within our reach – if we just get an extra hour or two of sleep per day.
It’s too easy to believe that powering through long work and travel days just requires a little more grit, strength, and determination to get it all done. But in both the physical and mental realms of our lives, science shows time and again that recovery contributes to greater power and strength, just as much as activity.
So, What Can Be Done?
This time of year is especially challenging with travel, holiday obligations and end-of-year goals occupying our time, making it seem impossible to fit in the sleep we need to survive and thrive. But the key to any new routine is to start small. That means if you currently get five or six hours of sleep per night regularly, don’t dive right into trying for eight. Just like training for a marathon, increasing the quantity and the quality of your “sleep mileage” requires incremental “training.” Here are a few steps to getting better sleep both at home and on the road.
Transition to sleep (Shut down to wind down). An airplane doesn’t just land and then slam on the breaks on the runway. Olympic sprinters don’t just stop on a dime once they pass the finish line. The point is, transitioning is important. Resist the urge to work on your laptop or any electronic device right before hopping into bed. (If you’re exhausted, you probably aren’t accomplishing anything of much of value anyway.) Shut down and wind down with soft music, a book, or whatever relaxes you at least 30 minutes before you actually plan to settle into bed.
Block out distractions. Do whatever you can to create a distraction-free environment. This can be difficult to control while traveling, but there are several ways you can accomplish this at your hotel. Book a room on a higher floor to minimize street and ground floor noise along with distracting streetlights. Request in advance a room away from heavy foot traffic areas such as elevators, conference rooms, pools, and vending machines. If you’re staying at a hotel that doesn’t have "quiet closer" doors, download a white noise app to muffle the sound of slamming doors late at night. You can also roll up a towel and wedge it into the crack between the door and the floor to block outside noise and light.
Beat jet lag. Traveling across time zones can be a sleep killer. The National Sleep Foundation recommends changing your sleep schedule a few days in advance to help your internal clock adjust to the new time zone. If it’s daylight when you arrive at your destination, take a brisk walk for 15 to 20 minutes and if you must nap at all, limit it to 20 minutes. If you arrive in the evening, dim the lights in your room and relax by reading a book or listening to a white noise app. When all else fails, try an app like Timeshifter, which helps you create your own personalized jet lag plan based upon your schedule and circadian rhythms.
Track it. If you’re the type who gains motivation from beating your best time, begin tracking your sleep either in an app, on your fitness tracker, or even on a good old-fashioned piece of paper. Also track how you feel as you get more and more sleep. Has your focus improved? Were you able to get more done in less time? Seeing tangible results will push you to keep going, even when the temptation of that last work email or that last glass of wine at the hotel bar calls your name.
Tanya Stanfield
Tanya Stanfield is the Founder and CEO of Road Warrior Strong, a concierge and community for business travelers who want to stay fit and well on the road.
She has spent over a decade tweaking her own diet and workouts to fit a hectic career. While frequently traveling for these work and running, training, and eating across the country, she developed new tools and strategies to make health and fitness work for her. She now shares these to help other business travelers successfully balance life, health, work and travel. She has appeared in VANE Airport Wellness Magazine, Go Jane Go, and the Travel Wins podcast.