As corporate counsel, we are not only lawyers but also managers and leaders in a business. Businesses tend to be more successful when its employees are happy and effective. Of course, sometimes, the priority is to stay up late to close a deal or process as many contracts to keep the business moving. But we have more control over our health than we think. We do not close deals every single day, and there are likely slower days. If this were not the case, then you would be too burnt out to be even reading this article, and this article would not be the right fit for you.

So, what are some ways taking care of your health affects your leadership, and what can you do about it?

Take Care of Your Sleep

Fewer than six to eight hours of sleep each night may be affecting your team and its performance. In a study where a group of sleep-deprived subjects had to stay additional hours awake, its average leadership score was 13% less than the other group. Another study at the University of Washington showed that a boss with a bad night's sleep can be seen as less charismatic. A lack of sleep makes it less likely for us to feel positive or be able to manage fake moods, affecting the team's perceptions.

Further, a culture of no sleep can also be toxic to the employees in the form of “sleep devaluation,” where leaders implicitly communicate to their subordinates that sleep is unimportant through their comments and actions. For example, boasting about not getting enough sleep or sending emails late in the night can encourage employees to sleep less and stay attuned to work instead of having the opportunity to relax. Employees in this kind of culture had an average of 25 fewer minutes of sleep than those who were not.

Here are three tips to take care of your sleep:

• Re-evaluate the quality and quantity of sleep you are getting. Is it enough? Is it affecting your performance and leadership?
• Revisit your attitude toward sleep in your team's presence. Are you celebrating employees who work after hours, or are you supporting their rest and relaxation?
• Sleep smarter. You do not necessarily have to sleep more to get the best out of sleep. Use strategies such as heavier blankets, lower room temperatures, and using blackout curtains to maximize the effectiveness of your sleep. |

  Be Mindful of What You Eat for Fuel

How you eat can affect how you lead. Green leafy vegetables, unrefined carbs and whole grains can help maintain energy levels over long periods of time, which is useful for long meetings or days where many important decisions must be made. Fruits and vegetables also facilitates dopamine release, which supports curiosity, motivation and engagement. On the other hand, processed foods can affect gut health, where an unhealthy microbiome can lead to weakened immune systems. The gut is also where 90% of receptor sites for serotonin are, facilitating confidence, happiness and motivation.

Another way eating mindfully can help you lead better is the way it can help with time management. When you structure your morning and your calendar to schedule meals as important events, it is easier to structure the entire day. Parkinson's Law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” An example is that if you allot one whole day to write a draft memo, that is how long it will take, whereas if you allot one hour to do the same thing, your mind will rewire itself to complete it within the time allotted. This means that if you leave certain blocks of time reserved specifically for yourself and specifically for certain meetings, that may facilitate more effective meetings, projects, and breaks throughout the day.

Here are three tips to be mindful of what you eat:

• Decide what to eat before you get hungry. Hunger disrupts our ability to make good choices on what food will be most nutritious for us. It is also distracting to think about what to eat the entire morning before lunch hits. Before the day begins, write out what you are going to eat and when. To reinforce this resolution, take an hour over the weekend to prepare your meals and save hours throughout the week.
• Set one nutrition goal at a time. Pick the simplest rules, like cutting out added sugar, adding at least one serving of fruits and vegetables each meal, and eating breakfast at exactly 8 a.m.m no matter what. Forming habits are easiest when you make it simple.
• Appreciate every bite. If you've been thinking about lunch the whole morning, why rush through exactly what you've been looking forward to for hours? Chewing every bite thoroughly will help with digestion and making meal time an effective break.

Exercise When You Can

Prioritizing exercise can help with better leadership because it boosts your mental and physical health. Exercise increases learning ability, lowers impact of stress, lowers sensitivity to anxiety, helps fight depression and increases memory capacity. These are all traits that benefit a leader's ability to make sound decisions, whether they are small (like approving vacation time) or big (like deciding whether an acquisition would be good for business).

Further, employees' perception of leader's physical fitness can impact employees' perception of the leader's fitness to lead. While this is not a dispositive indicator of good leadership, it may be a notion worth considering if you believe that implicit employee perception matters in leading a team effectively.

Here are three tips to exercise when you can:

• Start small. You do not have to work out for hours, and you do not have to powerlift on your first workout. This only increases your chances of injury and burnout. Start at home with what you have, even if it is just your body. Do jumping jacks and push-ups, just simple exercises you already know.
• Know that it is OK to feel winded from a simple cardio workout or sore from a basic dumbbell training. The most important thing is to start, regardless of how weak you may be feeling. If you are feeling winded or sore, unless you are feeling acute pain, it means you are training your body to get stronger. This is a good sign. Do not get discouraged by minor discomfort because this is just getting you out of the comfort zone for better heart capacity and muscle growth.
• Get it out of the way in the morning. If you are not a big fan of exercising, this is for you. When you have done what is most difficult for you first thing in the morning, you are likely to feel ahead and in control, which helps develop confidence and kindness to facilitate good leadership.

Angela Han is a health care lawyer, a certified plant-based personal trainer, and a yoga instructor. She works with corporate lawyers who want to transform their health, maximizing their ability to reach their goals in life and career. Learn more about her at www.angela-han.com.