Why sleep matters at work

Sleep shapes how your people think, feel and perform.

Sleep affects thinking, emotional regulation and the stress response. Poor sleep narrows focus and heightens reactivity. Supporting good sleep health supports both employee wellbeing and more sustainable performance.

Clearer thinking

Focus & decisions

Supports focus, decision-making and mental clarity when it matters most.

Stress recovery

Steadier under pressure

Helps regulate emotions and respond steadily to the demands of the workplace.

Sustainable performance

Perform without burning out

Helps teams function well over the long run, without running on empty.

The business case

The cost of poor sleep at work.

Almost 4 in 10 Australians regularly don't get enough quality sleep — and it shows up at work, through absenteeism, presenteeism and reduced participation.

32%
of the workforce are poor sleepers, and 19% have clinical insomnia.
10.5 days
more absent each year, on average, than a good sleeper.
50%
higher risk of injury, absenteeism and safety violations with a sleep disorder.
$3,958
in sleep-related productivity losses per affected employee, each year.

Source: Deloitte Access Economics, Asleep on the Job — Costs of Inadequate Sleep in Australia (2017).

What clients say.

"Amelia was excellent — very engaging, and some of the best training I have received."
NSW Health

"Dr Amelia was great! Interesting, warm and welcoming."
Dexus

"Dr Amelia was excellent — she presented deeply researched topics in a clear, accessible way that resonated with all attendees."
Baker McKenzie

Signature talks.

I provide practical, common-sense approaches to improving sleep, grounded in robust research and clinical experience — drawing on my dual expertise as a researcher and clinician for a well-rounded perspective on sleep health.

Any audience

The Science of Sleeping Well

And why your relationship with sleep matters

What healthy sleep really looks like, where popular advice goes wrong, and what sets good sleepers apart.

Drawing on sleep science and years of clinical work, Amelia unpacks what healthy sleep looks like, where popular advice goes wrong, and what sets good sleepers apart. Audiences leave with a clearer picture of normal sleep, less worry about the nights that go badly, and a handful of changes that make a real difference.

What your people will take away
  • A realistic picture of what a healthy night looks like
  • The common sleep myths and rules that do more harm than good
  • What many of us get wrong at night
  • Practical, evidence-based strategies to use straight away

Best for Any audience, wellbeing weeks, all-staff events

Enquire about this talk
High-pressure teams

Off the Clock

Sleeping well under pressure

What stress, deadlines and an always-on mind do to sleep, and how to protect it when work is full on.

Sleeplessness is common in high-demand fields, and many busy professionals look for tricks and hacks to sustain their performance. Amelia looks at what stress, deadlines, travel, late-night email and an "always on" mind do to sleep. She also explores what the evidence says about coping on less sleep, and why our sleep may be more resilient than we've been led to believe. This practical, grounded talk gives people a way to protect their sleep when they can, recover when they can't, and stop a busy patch becoming a pattern.

What your people will take away
  • How pressure and long hours affect sleep
  • Less fear about nights that go badly
  • A healthier way to think about rest in a high-pressure job
  • Practical ideas for sleeping well when life is full

Best for Legal, finance, healthcare and professional services teams, leadership cohorts. Tailored to your industry.

Enquire about this talk
Women's networks

Sleeping on Venus

Women, work and rest

Why women's sleep is so often misunderstood, and what actually helps through every season of life.

Women report poor sleep and daytime tiredness at higher rates than men, a pattern often called the gender sleep gap. Yet women's sleep is widely misunderstood and surrounded by myths that can make things worse. Sleep shifts across a woman's life, through caregiving, career load, hormonal changes and other demanding seasons. Amelia explores what's normal, what helps, and what the world around women has to do with how they sleep.

What your people will take away
  • A new way to think about waking in the night
  • What hormones do, and don't do, to sleep
  • Why feeling tired is often about more than sleep
  • Where to put your energy, and what to let go of

Best for Women's networks, International Women's Day, women in leadership, health and community audiences

Enquire about this talk
Conference keynotes

The Case Against Self-Optimisation

What sleep teaches us about being human

Why the chase for a better, more optimised self can leave us more tired, and the case for good enough.

We are surrounded by promises of a better self: more productive, more rested, better tracked and better hacked. Using sleep as her case study, Amelia explores how the chase for an ideal self can leave us more anxious, more tired and further from the lives we want. Drawing on psychology, sleep science and years of clinical work, she makes the case for something less fashionable and far more sustainable: being good enough, and embracing our humanity.

What your people will take away
  • Why so many of our efforts to improve ourselves backfire
  • What sleep reveals about control, effort and letting go
  • How to tell real self-care from self-optimisation
  • A kinder, more sustainable approach to rest and performance

Best for Conference keynotes, leadership retreats, culture and wellbeing strategy events

Enquire about this talk

Session formats.

  • Keynotes45-minute talks with Q&A.
  • WorkshopsLonger, interactive sessions.
  • BespokeSessions shaped around your team and goals.

The approach.

  • I focus on the science, not the hype.
  • I keep things practical, not idealised.
  • I bust myths rather than stoke fear.
  • I focus on people, not just productivity.

Bring better sleep to your team

Tell me about your event, team or brief and I'll be in touch to tailor a session.

Enquire about a talk