Personal Productivity
Sleep Deprivation: What Impact is It Having on Productivity?
AUTHOR: Arslan Hassan
In the modern world where everything is digital and fast-paced, and people are moving towards a better life by working long hours and extra hours to get a few extra bucks at the end of each month. But this burning of the midnight oil is leading to a serious negligence when it comes to sleep.
According to multiple researches, it has been observed that a lack of sleep affects many professionals which results in a more damaged lifestyle and adverse effect on health. Nowadays, people seek ways to become more productive and efficient at work without having proper resting patterns and sleeping hours. It is, however, the other way around. You should sleep well –not the other way to gain further efficiency and productivity at work.
What is productivity – how do you depict your productiveness?
The concept of human productivity is more output with less energy. A stronger strategy, better products or better design of work achieves significant improvement in the work efficiency. Human performance can be improved dramatically, and ergonomic hazards can be minimized; thus, worker satisfaction can be enhanced. A company’s success depends on its employee productivity and productivity is directly related to their sleep.
Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Productivity
We already know that our productivity is negatively affected by poor sleep. The longer we work, the more tired we get and the more likely we are to be mistaken, light or lenient, that blocks our creativeness.
Poor Performance
The optimal duration is from seven to eight hours of daily sleep for healthy adults. However, research by Hult revealed that professionals slept only six hours and 28 minutes on average.
While an extra 30 minutes may not seem like enough, the results of this sleep deficiency are surprising. Most participants reported weaker results due to fatigue, more than half of whom failed to remain focused on sessions. They took longer to finish assignments and found new concepts difficult. In addition to the lack of focus and less creative skills, participants also showed a small motivation for learning.
Mistake Driven work
Sleep loss may even aggravate problems if mistakes occur. In a study, it was also found that some people with insomnia problems are double the risk of errors at work. The typical mistakes include misunderstanding information, mixing of files/emails, and inability to pay attention to the essential to-dos. The average price of mistakes and harm caused by these errors is huge. If we talk about economic damage, losing up to $500 is the financial impact of sleep deficit.
Mood Swings and Irritation
Mood is also intensely affected by sleep deprivation. Paranoia, delusions, depression, and memory loss are some of the most severe psychological effects of sleep deprivation— all of which are extremely harmful to the work.
While working for an organization, it is important to look after the sleeping patterns as the work that you do and the way you behave has an impact on colleagues. Throughout corporate environments, coordination, and collaboration play a significant role and are critical to professional success. Throughout countless sleep-based surveys, a substantial number of respondents considered social aspects of sleep deprivation in the form of their colleagues not being cooperative particularly when they were exhausted. Many doctors recommend meditation for at least 20 minutes, on a daily basis, in order to invoke the sense of relaxation during the day to get rid of that irritation factor but in the long-run, proper sleep will be required.
Deteriorating Physical Health
Tiredness can have severe consequences on your physical health. A general impression of tiredness is a common sign of poor rest. In contrast, other detrimental physical symptoms such as heartburn, palpitations, and even diabetes have been identified with the help of certain researches.
It confirms numerous existing studies that show a correlation between sleep quality and physical health quality. A deprived immune system will cause you to become more prone to standard conditions. These conditions can stop you from leaving the office and end up harming your employment career. One study indicated that those with an average sleep of fewer than seven hours were almost three times more likely to get cold.
Steps to Prioritize your Sleep
Having a proper sleep before the start of a day is extremely important. Make sure that you follow these steps that lead you towards a better sleeping pattern.
Set bedtime schedule
Each evening, the same set of tasks completed in the same sequence, in the half-hour before bed. It is recommended that you increase the time from 30 minutes to an hour. The goal is to prepare the brain so that you can use this bedtime routine as a preparation for sleep.
Blue Light
Blue light kills melatonin, one of our sleeping hormones. Some apps and devices help to reduce the blue light that reaches our retinas if you have trouble letting go of social media updates.
Cleanliness
Owners of many businesses have considered corporate cleanliness directly related to having a peaceful sleep as employees spend majority of the time in the office and unhygienic spaces disrupt a person’s Zen. Manage your work station’s cleanliness and hold a detailed cleaning session. Office admin should incorporate professional cleaning every month or so to ensure the best environment for the employees.
Comfortable Sleeping Accessories
Whether it’s your mattresses, pillows or merely the night suit, ensure that everything is in mint condition and according to your comfort level. Studies indicate that due to unhealthy and old sleeping accessories, there can be a negative impact on your spine. Several people also feel the need to rush to a chiropractor now and then.
Conclusion
To have a better and more productive day at work, having enough sleep is one of the most important factors that you need to consider. People who lack good sleep before their working hours need to find why they are not having enough sleep. Being sleep deprived means that you are more prone to having mood swings and lack of ability to deal with scenarios. Based on the inefficiency and lack of enthusiasm towards work, it is about time that you start taking your sleeping patterns more seriously and build a regular schedule and time.
No comments