COMMENT
A man fell asleep in an audience and was disturbing with loud snores. The speaker stopped and asked the young boy sitting next to the man to wake him up. The boy said, ‘wake him up yourself- you put him to sleep’. I am certain, every reader of this piece, has not once, but more than once dozed off, in a meeting or conference or at least felt the head jerk itself involuntarily.
Body’s Circadian rhythms determine, our sleep needs and patterns. A circadian rhythm is any biological process that displays an endogenous, entrainable oscillation of about twenty four hours.
All humans, animals and plants have an inbuilt circadian rhythm which has inherent capability to adjust to the environment by external cues like recognising day light. The brains internal clock - body clock as we normally refer to it uses these cues to naturally synchronise or reset itself every day. The rhythms therefore regulate sleep and feeding patterns.
So if sleep is attacking it could be due to non-adjustment of the body clock. We experience this when during travel, we cross through various time zones and hence the internal clock refuses to collaborate and change. Sometimes jet lag can last for a few days. Falling or dozing off for this reason is excusable in a meeting.
Said a boss angrily, why are you late? Overslept a little sir, said the employee sheepishly. Oh! What you sleep at home as well, was the sarcastic response. Fatigue and insomnia are also reasons for dozing off at work. A reckless life style, if that’s the case then it is obvious that this habit can be curtailed, amended and even avoided.
My three year old grandson Hamza takes ‘power naps’ of 15 minutes or so and I see him completely re-energised by Divine Grace. Witnessing this, I am convinced of what chronobiologists (sleep experts) have to say about napping at work. Research in Sweden and France has proven beyond doubt that ‘a nap’ at work increases performance, enhances productivity and is good for the health of workers. Many scientists believe that day time resting boosts the physical self and can actually release more energy. This leads to reduction in illnesses and relatively the absences. But at work the question is how long should the nap be? Sleep till home time! Nay a mere ten minutes is good enough. In our part of the world, only the privileged boss in the confines of his luxurious cabin can indulge in this luxury; others have to contend to nap with eyes wide open, at their work stations.
It is not merely a heavy lunch that causes drowsiness in mid-afternoon. New research data suggests that’s not the case, entirely. As explained earlier the circadian rhythms determine it. This is a harmless tendency. However, sleep apnoea is an ailment not a life threatening one, but surely socially difficult to handle. In the developed world there are associations to deal with sleep apnoea problems- also in extreme cases a neurologist or a psychiatric consultation is seriously advised.
The speaker never falls asleep. It is the tortured audience that has to endure the pain of keeping the eyes open, especially when the brain (mind) is totally shut. The Japanese, in meetings usually close their eyes and it is assumed that this they do to concentrate - only they know if it is true. I have faked the Japanese art several times and quite successfully. Attending a conference in Beijing, I noticed that the entire first row was occupied by the Japanese (Japan being the major donor to the multilateral institution) and by 9:15 am all had their heads tilted on one side and the conference had begun at 9:00 am. Possibly concentrating! But it made a beautiful sight- the occasional snore indicating the level of concentration.
Most of us tend to have a wandering mind in meetings and conferences. This lack of interest in proceedings could be a consequence of the presenter being awfully boring. If the presenter speaks in monotone, with zero variation in delivery just as if a machine is talking that’s a sure recipe to lull the audience. The other possible reasons to doze off could be, that the subject is boring; is a subject that you already are well versed in or if as a sales person you are sitting in a conference on nuclear science! Sometimes it is the over 200 slides on multimedia that can easily trap the brains to doze off - and especially if he/she does at leisure! Here the presenter, most likely assumes that the audience can’t read ‘English’ or for that matter whatever language the slides have been prepared in and hence decides to read out the obvious from the slide.
Sympathy is restricted to those who have insomnia and therefore their body clock strikes at the wrong time, ie in meetings. For those afflicted with insomnia, I recall, ‘O sleep, O sleep gentle sleep, nature’s soft muse! How have I frightened thee, that thou no more wilt weight my eye lids down and sleep my senses in forgetfulness’ (Shakespeare). Reduce caffeine intake and sleep will return. For those who can’t, hit the sack with a pack of pills.
‘When a man is asleep he is a mere vegetable.’ Says a scientific writer. ‘He is however not edible- only audible.’ To avoid being audible, it is best to try out the following to keep awake in the midst of even the most boring of meetings; pay attention, tune in to the discussion; participate by forcing an expression of opinion; take notes, write down in bullet points, get engaged; check if the air conditioning and ventilation is proper; try doodling, a good past time while you attentively ‘listen’ –the Quaid, Jinnah used to do that a lot. If nothing works, start asking questions. I normally use the cold steel arm rests of the chair to shake me out of the need to doze.
The timing of the meeting is an important aspect to prevent dozing off. Never arrange a meeting between 1:30 and 3:00 pm. The propensity to doze off is the greatest during this period. John Medina in his book, ‘Brain Rules’ states that audiences level of attention drops and dives approximately after ten minutes into a session. It is therefore critical to vary either the tone or the theme after every ten minutes or so.
The writer is a senior banker and freelance columnist