Co-authored by Joanna Grover, LCSW, and Ian Davis
As summer fades and daylight hours shorten, millions of us will be bracing for more than just cooler weather and darker evenings. The change in season brings with it a change in routine: back-to-work and back-to-school alarms, busy commutes, and mounting workloads that can quietly sabotage one of our most vital pillars of health—our sleep.
Sleep disturbances surge during times of transition, and this doesn’t just make us tired—it influences our focus, mood, next-day performance, and our actual physiology. The good news is that one simple science-backed breathing method can help reset your nervous system and unlock deeper, more restorative sleep.
Why does sleep matter so much for your goals and ambitions?
Sleep Fuels Success
Sleep serves as the cornerstone of recovery and well-being—more fundamental than nutrition, exercise, or therapy. Poor sleep undermines nearly every skill critical to professional success.
Research reveals that sleep deprivation impairs memory consolidation, learning, emotional regulation, focus, decision-making, and immune function. Reaction times slow, mood deteriorates, and irritability increases. Simultaneously, testosterone drops while cortisol spikes, trapping the body in chronic low-grade stress.
Even more concerning: in 2019, the World Health Organization classified night-shift work—any occupation disrupting natural circadian rhythms—as a “probable carcinogen.”
We sleep in 90-minute cycles, alternating between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Early night hours feature deep sleep, which is crucial for physical repair and immune restoration. Morning hours are REM-dominant, essential for emotional regulation, memory, and creative problem-solving. Missing REM cycles is like attending a leadership meeting with your body present but your mind absent.
The Hidden Cost of Sleep Sacrifice
For high-achieving professionals, sleep often becomes either elusive or expendable. The overwhelmed executive may lie awake for hours, achieving only light or deep sleep while remaining mentally unrested and emotionally unbalanced. The deadline-pressured manager might fall asleep quickly but wake repeatedly, disrupting cycles and missing REM entirely.
The skills we depend on most—empathy, negotiation, insight, innovation, and relational intelligence—become compromised. In boardrooms, client meetings, and team management, these aren’t “nice-to-have” traits; they distinguish leadership from liability.
Chronic sleep restriction reduces prefrontal cortex activity—the brain region governing impulse control, goal-directed behavior, and working memory. Simply put: the brain area you need most for high-level professional functioning suffers most from sleep loss.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine estimates that workplace fatigue costs U.S. companies over $136 billion annually in lost productivity. Employees sleeping less than six hours nightly show significantly higher burnout rates, reduced job satisfaction, and decreased engagement.
While late nights and weekend emails may signal commitment, they often mask hidden capability erosion, affecting individual output, team morale, strategic thinking, and long-term company performance.
Breath: Your Overlooked Sleep Tool
Standard sleep hygiene advice includes avoiding screens before bed, reducing light exposure, keeping rooms cool, and maintaining consistent bedtime routines. Breath, however, remains surprisingly overlooked.
Unless you practice yoga, breathwork, or meditation, you probably ignore your breathing patterns. Yet this automatic process, governed by the autonomic nervous system, is one of the few bodily functions we can consciously control—and doing so dramatically improves sleep and stress regulation.
Intentional breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest mode), reducing heart rate, balancing cortisol, and promoting the internal chemistry needed for relaxation and recovery.
Breathing deeply and slowly through the nose reduces snoring, sleep apnea, dry mouth, and nighttime waking—these contribute to more unbroken sleep and, crucially, more REM cycles.
Sleep Essential Reads
A Simple Practice for Better Sleep
Try this technique before sleep:
The 4-7-8 Method:
- Inhale through the nose for four seconds
- Hold your breath for seven seconds
- Exhale slowly for eight seconds
- Repeat four times
- Stop focusing on breath and breathe normally
This rhythm regulates the nervous system, calms mental chatter, and promotes the sense of safety essential for transitioning into quality sleep.
Redefining Success: Recovery as Foundation
For driven individuals and teams, the message is clear: Recovery isn’t the opposite of ambition—it’s the foundation. Performance without recovery isn’t resilience; it’s burnout in slow motion.
We must stop equating sleep with laziness or inefficiency. Organizations that value sleep and psychological recovery through flexible hours, boundary-setting encouragement, and education on nervous system regulation don’t just retain talent—they amplify it.
Professionals must view sleep as part of their training regimen, just as athletes do. It’s the ultimate legal performance enhancer.
In pursuing excellence, don’t sacrifice the one thing that helps you reach your potential: recovery. Breathe better. Sleep well. Perform sustainably.
For more evidence-based strategies on optimizing performance through recovery, explore resources on sleep science and breathwork techniques.
Ian Davis is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Imagery Coach, Movement Coach, and Breathwork Coach. He co-designed, taught, and led a degree in Strength, Conditioning, and Rehabilitation in conjunction with the University of Plymouth.