Sleep Your Way to Success Entrepreneurs and business leaders often spend huge amounts of time and money on life-coaches, personal trainers and courses to aid development. But one of the best tools to improve performance won't cost a penny.

Improving sleep can boost performance, aid creativity and turbo-charges concentration. Here sleep expert Martin Seeley, from MattressNextDay, an online retailer that offers a wide range of mattresses and bedding products, outlines to Entrepreneur UK readers how and why entrepreneurs need to pay more attention to rest.

How can busy entrepreneurs optimise their sleep for peak performance without sacrificing productivity?
Getting a good night's sleep is vital: it improves brain performance, concentration, mood and overall physical and mental health. By improving your sleep, you wake up feeling physically rested, mentally refreshed and ready to take on the day ahead. So, just like you prioritise your diet and physical activity, it's vital to give sleep the attention it deserves. There's nothing worse than climbing into bed and feeling restless, uncomfortable and unable to drift off.

The best way to ensure you get enough, and good quality sleep is to have a routine which incorporates sleep hygiene. Just as you organise your day to get the most out of your time the same should apply to your sleep. Developing certain habits, like keeping a consistent schedule and limiting blue light exposure before bed, can improve your sleep hygiene and promote quality sleep.

What's the biggest myth about sleep that high achievers need to stop believing?
The biggest myth about sleep is that high achievers can succeed without prioritising sleep. In fact, it's the opposite. Research shows that successful people often get more sleep than others. There are both short and long-term negative effects of sleep deprivation which impacts your physical and mental health. Persistent sleep deprivation affects daytime performance, can hinder decision-making, worsen memory and focus and inhibit creativity.

How does sleep quality impact decision-making, creativity, and leadership?
People who don't get enough sleep are less productive, often feel like they are struggling to manage their 'to-do' lists and have little time for creativity. Technology has allowed us to study the brain when we sleep. Certain types of sleep state, where you move between dreaming sleep (Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep) and Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep has been shown to increase flexibility of thought. There is even some research showing that some people find solutions to creative problems when they sleep. Research has found that business executives experience a five to ten percent decrease in executive function for every 45 minutes of sleep debt they accrue. When important decisions need to be made, sleep is a tool which can help you to make the right one.

On a more simple level, someone who is tired and irritable from lack of sleep is unlikely to be in their best form nor encourage those around them to work at their best. It's only natural we'd avoid interacting with the boss who was like a bear with a sore head.

What's one small, high-impact change business leaders can make to improve their rest and recovery?
To get outside first thing in the morning. Natural light will help to restart your internal clock, and if you can't get outdoors, try working near a window to get that morning sun exposure. Our circadian rhythms are driven by nature and when it's dark your brain will continue to produce melatonin which makes you sleepy. So as part of your sleep regime, draw the curtains to let in the light and get fresh air and exercise, even if it's just a walk.

With the rise of hustle culture, how do you convince ambitious professionals that better sleep leads to bigger success?
Science proves it. A human can last three weeks without food and only eight to ten days without sleep. It is essential to our mental and physical recovery. There's a reason why athletes incorporate sleep into their routine and if you want to be successful, you should incorporate it into yours. If you are sleep deprived, you are simply not going to be at your best. You may struggle to weigh opinions carefully, remember important information and assess risk and reward. Sub-optimal decision making will negatively impact your success, no matter how ambitious you are.

What's the next big innovation in sleep science that could change how entrepreneurs and executives perform?
The real improvements in sleep science will be driven by data. We have the technology to monitor how we are sleeping, the science to study its impacts and the important factors like sleep hygiene including creating the right sleep environment in our bedrooms. But what draws this altogether and allows us to test hypotheses is that data. Whether we take the advice is another matter.

But for anyone hoping that science will develop a pill which means you need less sleep - I think you will be disappointed. Instead concentrate on the things we do know; that sleep is vital to how our brain functions, that it is essential for our physical health and that the smartest people will make sure that getting enough sleep is part of their path to success.