Arianna Huffington’s Sleep Revolution: A Formula For Enhanced Productivity, Performance, Success & Happiness

About this episode

Arianna Huffington is more productive than you are. In addition to co-founding The Huffington Post in 2005 (which famously sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million), she has dominated television news for decades as a globally recognized political pundit; authored 15 books; built multiple profitable businesses; pioneered online journalism; and even ran for Governor of California as an independent in 2003. Under Arianna's stewardship, in 2012 HuffPo won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, representing a seismic shift in journalism from traditional print prominence to online, cementing digital media's permanence, force, and legitimacy. Not enough? Arianna has been named to the Time 100 list of most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list. So what's her secret? The answer might surprise you: a great night of sleep. A devoted mom of two college-aged girls, Arianna learned the value of sleep the hard way. A burnout episode several years ago left her chronically exhausted, priming an exploration to redefine what it means to live well — beyond business and financial success. Her NY Times bestselling smash hit Thrive* established her authority on well-being and today she is pioneering a movement — make that a revolution — that debunks the false bravado and cultural, mythical pride associated with burning the midnight oil to instead champion sleep as the key to unlock maximum potential. The tip of Arianna's latest campaign of insurrection is her new book, The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life One Night At A Time*. A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Arianna at the LA Book Fair to learn more. Arriving replete with full entourage in tow, I admit to being a little intimidated. But with grace and presence, she quickly put me at ease. In a perfect world, I would have loved the time and bandwidth to delve deeply into Arianna's upbringing, her political evolution from conservative to liberal, her authorship and her spiritual perspective on the important matters of life. However, I only had a tight hour, so this exchange is focused predominantly on sleep and provides a nice complement to my recent podcast, How To Sleep Smarter With Shawn Stevenson. Specific topics include: * the cultural devaluation of sleep in the Industrial Revolution * Arianna’s ‘wake-up' call after collapse from exhaustion * the cutting-edge science behind sleep * Arianna's “Third Metric” * sleep as athletic recovery enhancement * the foundation of sleep deprivation in colleges * persistent use of sleep aids & links to Alzheimer’s * simple transition to sleep & removal of stimuli * the power of taking naps * workaholic ethos & the cost of burnout * finding optimum balance to improve relationships * segmented sleep & other sleep conventions Arianna was absolutely delightful. I sincerely hope you enjoy the exchange. Peace + Plants, Rich