Friday, September 25, 2026

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Good sleep is the foundation for better health, safer work, and stronger performance

By Eric Nederlof, Representative

They say that in our sleep, we’re as close to death we will ever be in life—but the irony is that it’s one of the most important functions of life and for staying alive.

Air, water, food, sleep: arguably the fourth-most important thing for our survival. Sleep has been analyzed, studied, evaluated, and written about throughout history, including in Hamlet’s infamous soliloquy.

The science of sleep is still being studied and new discoveries are being made today, such as a recent UC Berkeley study that linked deep-sleep loss to Alzheimer's-related protein buildup. Clearly, we know sleep is important and continue to discover exactly how and why.

I was just listening to a podcast in which each of the five 30-minute shows they were airing that week were going to discuss sleep. And even then, the hosts said, they would still be only scratching the surface on everything about sleep!

But in today’s hustle and bustle culture, how often do we hear, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” or “sleep is for the weak?”

The reality is that sleep isn’t a luxury or a sign of weakness—it’s essential to our health, safety, and ability to function at our best.

So why should workers make sleep a priority? Here are a few important reasons:

Good sleeping patterns and proper amounts of rest are vital to safe and productive work performance, and good physical and mental well-being. We should be spending at least as much time sleeping as we do working—experts recommend getting around seven to nine hours of sleep each night for optimal health and performance.
Getting good-quality sleep improves concentration, allowing for faster information processing and the ability to maintain attention on complex tasks.
Getting your Zzzs improves decision making for better reasoning, risk assessment, and problem solving.
Having enough sleep keeps your physical reflexes sharp during the day, and assists in healing physical injuries.
Good sleep helps regulate emotions and increases emotional intelligence, which assists in positive interpersonal interactions, reduces anxiety, prevents overreactions under pressure, and can help prevent burnout.
Consistent sleep strengthens immune function and lowers the risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

Sleep is one of those things that helps us live—and work—at our best. It isn’t time wasted, a sign of weakness, or a luxury reserved for people without busy schedules. It’s what prepares us to think clearly, react quickly, manage stress, stay healthy, and work safely.

After all, health and safety doesn’t begin when we arrive at work. It begins the night before our shift.

Sleep may look like doing nothing, but while we rest, our bodies and minds are doing some of their most important work. So instead of wearing exhaustion as a badge of honour, maybe it’s time we gave sleep the priority it deserves.

Because sometimes the most productive thing we can do is get a good night’s sleep.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

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