Dr. Els van der Helm

Sleep Intelligence

We spend a third of our lives asleep – yet when life gets demanding, sleep is still the first thing we sacrifice. What if that is precisely when we need it the most? Els joins us to explain how sleep quietly shapes the way we think, make decisions, manage our emotions, relate to other people and lead, and why understanding it could transform the way we work and live.

Photo: © Annebel Eppinga

Sleep neuroscientist

Els is a sleep neuroscientist, working with global organisations to improve performance through sleep. She conducted her research at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and at Harvard Medical School, where she studied the effect of sleep on cognitive performance. As a Fulbright scholar, she studied the impact of sleep on the brain and performance while pursuing her PhD in psychology at UC Berkeley, before becoming a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She has been named one of the world’s top five sleep experts by Thrive Global.

‘Strategy demands creativity. Leading people demands empathy. Decisions demand judgment. Els van der Helm shows that all of it runs on sleep. This book belongs in the hands of every executive.’

Dominic Barton, former Global Managing Partner, McKinsey and Company

Dr. Els van der Helm

Sleep neuroscientist

Els is a sleep neuroscientist, working with global organisations to improve performance through sleep. She conducted her research at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and at Harvard Medical School, where she studied the effect of sleep on cognitive performance. As a Fulbright scholar, she studied the impact of sleep on the brain and performance while pursuing her PhD in psychology at UC Berkeley, before becoming a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She has been named one of the world’s top five sleep experts by Thrive Global.