Sleep Better to Work Better

To meet the demands of today’s world, you might spend a significant amount of energy working overtime and drinking too much coffee to stay awake. You might even pride yourself on overworking and ‘burning the midnight oil’. Does this extra work eventually pay off? Studies show that it probably doesn’t! In fact, not getting a sufficient amount of sleep may have the opposite effect of hampering your work.

Sleep Deprivation and Burnout

Research has established that poor sleep quality can put one at risk of having a burnout. In fact, the main risk factor that predicted burnout was too little sleep. Sleep restores regular daily functioning and acts as a buffer for the adverse impact of stress. On the other hand, sleep deprivation causes you to be more vulnerable to stressful or emotionally demanding situations. So, staying up late and not sleeping sufficiently can actually make you less productive!

Your immune system is strongly affected by the amount and quality of rest your body gets. Not sleeping enough can actually even make you fall ill. People who get less than seven hours of sleep per night are three times as likely as their well-rested counterparts to come down with a cold.

Effect of Sleep on Memory and Cognition

Taking naps may help you to correctly remember important information. Numerous studies show that sleep helps you to process, store, and retrieve information from memory. Importantly, getting some sleep after learning new information can help you remember it better. Moreover, when you sleep, certain unconscious processes help consolidate information we have learned and enhance your cognitive processing abilities, thus helping you to work more efficiently.

Also Read - Why You Shouldn't Ignore Sleep And Exercise

Sleep and Work Performance

Current research clearly indicates that disturbed sleep results in poor functioning at work. Sleep difficulties have been found to be associated with reduced productivity and poor job performance because of reduced attention, memory, social performance, interpersonal functioning and communication. Lack of sleep can also cause work accidents, higher employee dissatisfaction and increased health issues among employees.

Balancing your schedule well so that you can get a sufficient amount of sleep can help to ensure that you are well rested, healthy and productive the next day!