This blog is inspired by the culmination of almost every conversation I’ve had in the last seven days that I strongly suspect many of my readers will relate to. It goes like this –Me: “Hi, how are you?”Friend: “I’m sooooo [insert word associated with being crazy-busy-stressed-hectic-overloaded etc]”It’s hard to escape that we’re in the thick of that time of year. The time when everything we’ve been working on for the last 11 months is due, when we "must" catch up with everyone (even those we don’t like), and when presents expressing the depth of our love for those we do... Read full article »

It’s taken me an inordinate amount of time to string these words together. I’m unfocussed, inarticulate and foggy. In fact, in the course of writing this sentence I’ve also refreshed my inbox (twice), checked multiple news websites (again) and made (another) cup of tea. I’m in an unusually bad mood and looking for a distraction from the difficulty of having to think. This all boils down to one primary cause – sleep. (Or lack there of.)As regular readers will know, from time to time I suffer from insomnia, usually induced by one of three things:A. CaffeineB. RuminationC. Small children Last... Read full article »

I woke up this morning feeling like crap. I didn’t get enough sleep. It wasn’t because I had sick kids, a work deadline, or even insomnia. My fatigue was self-inflicted. I had stayed up too late watching television. “Urgh,” I thought, as I wrangled my two kids through their breakfast. “There’s no way I’m getting through today uncaffeinated.”The crazy thing is that I fully intended to go to bed early last night. In fact, I was in bed by 9:00pm. But I recently learned that a certain online streaming service is available on my phone and when the one episode... Read full article »

I recently found myself racing through university corridors, heels clacking on concrete floors, lost, and late for an interview. Having just battled Sydney’s peak hour traffic and struggled to find parking in our city’s gridlocked streets, I was disoriented in a maze of modern building design. Apparently the state-of-the-art business school, with its “9,100 square meters of flexible teaching and learning space” was designed to “inspire and enable generations of leaders.” All it inspired in me were sweaty palms, a tense jaw and a cortisol spike that would scare off even the most vicious of sabre tooth tigers. It was... Read full article »

If you’re really into a TV show at the moment and guilty of a few too many late night binge-watching sessions, then you’re probably going to hate reading this. If you’re prone to late-night Facebook habits, or enjoy staying up to play video games or shop online, then you probably will too. This blog post is about the scientific evidence showing there’s a connection between regularly not getting enough sleep and having bad health. It’s also about how I think one of the keys to good health is to switch off the TV, and put away your smart-devices after sunset.... Read full article »

If you’re anything like me, then you will be familiar with Monday-itis. It’s a terrible affliction, with symptoms usually presenting at the start of the working week. You feel tired and flat and you have to drag yourself out of bed. While you might think that motivation is the issue because you don’t want your weekend to be over, it turns out that you may actually be suffering from something called “social jet lag,” and it has a lot to do with your sleep. I recently spoke with Professor Till Roenneberg from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich who is a sleep... Read full article »