Sleep isn’t passive rest, but a critical driver of performance.

In high-pressure environments, sleep is often the first thing to go. Long hours are treated as commitment. Pushing through is expected. But the cost builds, often in ways we don’t immediately see, leading to distraction, poor decisions, emotional reactivity, and missed signals.

In this groundbreaking guide, sleep neuroscientist and executive advisor Els van der Helm, PhD, shows that sleep is not just a habit to optimize. It’s a system to understand.

Blending cutting-edge research with real-world stories and interviews—from global executives to frontline professionals—Dr. van der Helm reframes sleep as a hidden driver of performance, resilience, and leadership. Her practical, science-backed six-principle framework reveals how we can


- Identify our chronotype and align our schedule with peak performance windows
- Use chronotherapy to align work, energy, and recovery across the day
- Understand how REM sleep supports emotional control, creativity, and decision-making—and how to protect it
- Use strategic napping to recover faster and sustain high performance
- Navigate periods of poor sleep, reducing the impact of bad nights and building long-term resilience
- Become a “sleep leader,” rethinking how work and life are structured to make sustained performance possible, at work and at home


Perfect for leaders, ambitious professionals, and anyone operating in high-demand environments, Sleep Intelligence offers a new way of thinking about sleep—and how we work, lead, recover, and live as a result.