Your sleep patterns and quantity affects the various aspects of your life, including your performance at work, your social life, moods and your health among many other areas. We might as well say that sleep is nearly as important as food. Quantity aside, your sleep schedule has a connection with how productive you are at work. Keep reading to learn how to make the most out of your sleep, to enjoy excellence in your career or business.
Too Much or Too Little Sleep
If your body is not receiving the recommended amount of sleep, you are either getting too little or too much. Adults aged between 26 and 64 should sleep 7-9 hours per day with adults older than 64 getting a recommended sleep of 7-8 hours.
While it has always been said that an adult should get eight hours of sleep per day, recent research studies have come up with a different figure. An analysis of different studies suggested that people should be sleeping for a maximum seven hours. Besides minimizing the risks of death, people who sleep for seven hours per day are healthier. According to Mayo Clinic, adults should target 7-9 hours of sleep. However, the quantity of sleep a person should receive is determined by numerous other factors such as previous sleep deprivations, pregnancy, and a person’s sleep quality.
Connection Between Sleep Patterns, Quantity, and Productivity at Work
Daily activities of 33 percent of American workers are affected by daytime sleepiness – a few times every month. 13 percent of these people even take a nap during working hours. Unfortunately, individuals who are deprived of sleep, owing to long hours of work experience greater impatience, difficulty concentrating and decreased productivity.
Mark Rosekind, Ph.D., a chief scientist and president of Alertness Solutions blames this trend on the fact that the entire society has moved towards the much-hyped 24/7 economy. Alertness Solutions is a scientific consulting company that specializes in issues of sleep. Mark says that people are always working across all the industries, and as such, lack time to get enough sleep and rest.
Signs of Poor Sleep Habits
Apart from feeling sleepy during the day, there are other signs and symptoms of a person who does not sleep well, as explained by a medicine professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, Meir Kryger, MD. The telltale signs include nodding off during meetings or when driving, concentration problems, memory lapses, fluctuation of moods such as being irritable or snappy, and performance that is worse than usual.
These signs and symptoms can cause moderate to grave problems – depending on the nature of your job. Office workers who spend most of their times working on the computer are not at much risk as those who do manual work such as operating heavy machines or driving. The latter’s jobs are already risky, and therefore riskier when the issue of sleep deprivation comes into the picture. Besides pursuing effectiveness at work, employees need to be sober at all times to avoid putting their lives, and that of others, in danger.
Get Enough Sleep
Getting sufficient sleep on a daily basis pays off. Take a light supper, throw on your sleep leggings and grab that seven hours of sleep or so. When you are obtaining the right amount of sleep, you can work at full potential. You will begin to witness growth in both your productivity and efficiency that eventually earns you a higher pay in salary and investments. A study published in the Wall Street Journal showed that the research participants who were receiving too little sleep, earned a 16 percent pay rise over time when they added one hour of sleep per night.
Organize your schedule in a manner that allows you to sleep for at least seven hours. Also, be wary of technology as it can interfere with your sleep patterns and quality. The light from your Smartphone screen can make it difficult for you to sleep. Production of melatonin, which is responsible for putting you to sleep, only happens in the darkness. Switch that phone or iPad off every night, and sleep your way to increased productivity at work.