No. 16NOVEMBER 2, 2026 · 90 MIN

David Gully: Better Sleep, Extreme Fatigue and Delegation

Meet the sleep doctor who briefed Ollie for a world record attempt recorded four weeks before it began. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/founded. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. "There is that point at 3 AM where your brain really feels like it's shut down. You can barely keep your eyes open, and you're actually freezing cold. And these are all very classic signs of the lowest point of your circadian rhythm." That's Dr David Garley, GP and sleep doctor, warning Ollie about what was coming. This conversation was recorded live on LinkedIn and YouTube on 14 August, four weeks before Ollie attempted the world record for the longest interview marathon. The record stood at 56 hours 10 minutes. The goal was 59 hours, at Films@59 in Bristol, raising money for Talk Club, the men's mental fitness charity. Ollie went on to break the record by 34 minutes. This is the conversation that got him ready. David is director of The Better Sleep Clinic, the online, doctor-led clinic he built with his partner Jess after leaving a secure NHS career. It now has a team of around 25 and works with several Premier League football teams, Women's Super League teams, Olympic squads and Formula One. Before that came respiratory medicine and frontline work in refugee camps in Greece, in India and on the pandemic response in Malawi. Ollie asks him everything: how long a nap should be, whether a nappuccino works, what to do when 3 AM hits, which supplements are worth taking, and what David's non-negotiables are. Along the way, David explains why better sleep begins long before bedtime, why worrying about sleep keeps you awake, and why so many founders build themselves a prison. His one piece of advice for founders: stop making yourself so central to the business.

Key Points

• Sleep is built during the day. Daylight in the first hour after waking, movement, stress and routine shape your night as much as anything you do in bed. And don't overstate the importance of sleep: "The more you think about sleep, the more you worry about sleep, the less likely it is to happen."
• Plan for fatigue, don't fight it. Sleep deprivation hits physical, cognitive and emotional performance, especially the last two. Expect the circadian low around 3 AM, keep naps to 20 minutes to avoid feeling like a zombie, spread caffeine out in small doses (its half-life can range from one hour to nine), and get moving.
• Don't be the single point of failure. Running your own business can quietly become a pressure cooker where nothing works without you. David's advice is to start working yourself out of responsibilities early, before the habit sets in and you find yourself thinking about work in every spare minute.

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