Sleep is essential to military health, wellness, and performance. You might instantly relate to some of the effects of sleep deprivation such as physical tiredness, the increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries (MSK-i), moodiness, reduced alertness, and inattention, among many others. But you might not realize that sleep also supports your Total Force Fitness beyond physical and mental fitness. For example, sleep deprivation can get in the way of your relationships and affect your social fitness. In particular, lack of sleep reduces your ability to feel empathy and appropriately respond to others.
What's empathy
Basically, empathy is your ability to understand and share the feelings of others. When you can put yourself “in someone else's shoes,” feel what they’re feeling, and respond with understanding and care, you're empathizing.
Empathy is essential to human relationships. In your personal relationships, it helps to strengthen your bonds with loved ones, show care, and provide support when they need it. Empathy also allows you to share in their joy, excitement, and happiness. In professional settings, empathy promotes team trust and cohesion, fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment.
How sleep affects empathy
Your brain needs sleep to function properly. Once you’ve been awake for 18 hours, your brain starts to function as if you’ve been drinking alcohol. In the same way, continually getting less than the recommended 7–9 hours of sleep leads to a progressive decline in brain function. And, your ability to show empathy is associated with specific regions of your brain.
You might not realize it, but a lot goes into your understanding and sharing the feelings of others. You need to:
- Read their expressions
- Infer their feelings
- Label their emotions
- Look at it from their perspective
- Try to understand where their emotion comes from
- Connect it to your previous experiences of that emotion
- Control any impulses you might have
- Decide what’s the appropriate social behavior
If the brain regions involved in empathy aren’t working properly because of a lack of sleep, your empathy processes can be impaired, making it harder for you to understand and share the feelings of others.
And, without empathy, other aspects of your social fitness can suffer too. You might become less likely to engage in prosocial behaviors such as helping others in need, volunteering, and giving to charity. It might be harder for you to build trust in your relationships. Or, you might get into conflicts more often, and reduced empathy can contribute to less effective conflict resolution. All these changes can have a significant effect on team safety and cohesion.
Sleep deprivation also affects other aspects of social fitness. Being connected to a supportive network and spending time with the people you love are essential to overall health and wellbeing. Sleep loss can reduce your desire to participate in social activities and also lead to negative feelings about your relationships.
In the end, you might experience a vicious cycle between sleep loss and impaired social fitness. Sleep deprivation contributes to reduced empathy, social withdrawal, and feelings of loneliness, while social isolation can reduce sleep quality. But being aware of this vicious cycle can be the first step in breaking out of it.
How to boost empathy
Empathy is a skill that you can develop and improve with consistent practice. So, even if you feel like you’re in the vicious cycle of sleep loss and impaired social fitness, when you commit to boosting your empathy skills, you can break the cycle. Use these HPRC tips for enhancing your empathy:
- Validate the other person’s point of view. Remember, empathy is your ability to understand and share in the feelings of others. You don’t have to agree with the other person to show empathy. By validating their feelings, you’re showing them empathy and demonstrating that you understand their point of view. Try saying phrases such as, “I hear you,” “I understand,” or “I can see how,” before paraphrasing their perspective back to them.
- Practice loving-kindness meditation. You can improve your empathy by practicing this meditation. It can help you strengthen your feelings of kindness and acceptance for others, which in turn enhances your empathy.
- Ask for feedback. You won’t always accurately understand someone’s experience, and that’s okay. If you feel you’re missing the mark, ask for feedback from them. By showing that you’re actively trying to understand their feelings, you can improve your skill of empathy and even build trust in your relationship.
- Learn and practice Active Constructive Responding (ACR). This powerful communication skill is focused on responding to others with genuine excitement and interest. When you do that, you provide a positive reinforcement for their decision to share with you. ACR is an effective way to deepen your relationships and improve your empathetic responses.
How to improve your sleep
Optimizing your sleep readiness can also help you break the cycle between sleep loss and lack of empathy. HPRC offers many resources to help you improve your sleep quality and duration.
- The Sleep and TFF Self-check helps you learn how 7–9 hours of sleep support other aspects of your health and wellness. After realizing how essential sleep is for physical, mental, social, nutritional, medical, spiritual, and financial fitness, you might experience a boost in your motivation to make sleep a priority.
- A sleep vacation can help you identify your ideal sleep duration. Most Service Members need 7–9 hours of sleep every night. Learning where you fall within this range can help you set specific goals for sleep duration and adjust your schedule to meet those needs.
- The Sleep Habits Self-check can help you build habits that support sleep quality and duration. These key habits can help you enjoy a more restful sleep. From the moment you wake up in the morning, you’re investing in a good night's sleep.
All the pillars of Total Force Fitness—physical, mental, social, nutritional, medical, spiritual, financial, and environmental— work together to help you be the best version of yourself. As you make progress in one pillar, you reap benefits in others. This is why improving your sleep and social fitness can help you build your empathy skills and become your best version for those you love.