4 Proven Facts About Sleep That Impact Your Productivity at Work and Tips to Improve it.

If I would ask 100 people today whether they have slept eight hours last night, more than 40% will reply in negative. Even though we know that eight hours is the recommended amount to sleep, we willingly delay going to sleep. In fact, humans are the only mammals that willingly delay going to sleep. Sometimes, we are feeling that we operate fine on four or six hours a night; however, there is a 1 in 4 million possibility to have the ability to feel well-rested with these amounts of sleep. About 25% of the population in developed countries reportedly suffer from insomnia.

Let’s discover four facts about sleep that affect your job productivity and your life.

Fact One, there are two major chronotypes, the morning larks and night owls. About 30% of the population doesn’t have a strongly defined chronotype However, 40% of the people are physiologically prime to be morning larks, meaning their peak wakefulness arrives early in the day and they get sleepier earlier in the evening. Morning larks tend to thrive in corporate settings, they better handle traditional working hours for the office environment and also tend to move around more during the day and be more punctual than other types. The other 30% are night owls, wired for sacking out late and stirring later the following day. This creates problems with the current working system since their working hours are in the morning. They tend to be more neurotic and are more likely to be depressed, anxious, and suffer from obsessive tendencies. They are more likely to drink, smoke, and do drugs and have about four times as many sexual partners than other chronotypes. They also tend to be more creative and intelligent.

Fact two, the damage on our productivity with less than 8 hours per night is tremendous. Sleep allows us to unite and store memories and process emotional experiences. On the other hand, insufficient sleep leads to poor judgment and lack of self-control, resulting in poor performance on the job. Better sleep improves memory, learning, and knowledge acquisition.

Fact three, sleep affects a manager’s ability to motivate and inspire employees. When managers show up for work unrested, they are more likely to lose patience with their subordinates and act in abusive ways, thereby portraying a less charismatic picture of themselves. In addition, less sleep can negatively impact a manager’s behavior; for example, such managers tend to communicate to employees that sleep is unimportant and set up examples of more working hours, such as sending emails at night, encouraging employees to work during sleep hours, and forcing them to adjust their own behavior accordingly. A number of scientific studies have shown that such kinds of managers affect employee’s productivity, making them act less ethically, and have an overall tremendous negative impact on business efficiency. In essence, toxic managers put themselves, their teams, and their companies in serious jeopardy.

Fact four, sleep boosts employee engagement. It is proven that sufficient sleep improves job satisfaction and increases productivity and enthusiasm for employees and managers.

It is crucial to understand the importance of sleep and taking action to improve your sleep behavior. The most important action is regularity, stocking a consistent bedtime and wake-up schedule even on weekends. If you change your sleep behavior on weekends and wake up late, you will create a social jet lag, which will affect your productivity at work on Monday. Therefore, maintain regular bedtimes, for example, 22:00 to 06:00, 23:00 to 07:00 or 00:00 to 08:00.

I know that there are jobs like those of nurses, doctors, and others, who must work at all times. I also have personal experience from my financial dealing night shifts; however, this necessary evil habit should not be extended especially after midlife.

Another good behavior is to minimize the use of smartphones at night. Using smartphones after 9 pm come at the expense of sleep, which affects work productivity the next day. The easy way is to not look at your smartphone at night. If not possible, try blue light filter glasses.

Another tip is to load up on Vitamin D. When you wake up, it is helpful to expose yourself to natural sunlight, only 30 minutes a day can help you regulate your sleep patterns. Conversely, turn the light down in your house before bedtime.

An important habit is to create a relaxing routine before bedtime, for example, listening to music, or reading a book. A very good tactic is to take a hot bath before bed, it will drop your body temperature once you’re in bed and make you sleep more relaxed.

Never exercise at night, better to exercise in the morning or earlier in the afternoon. Exercise improves sleep a lot but doing it at night is not recommended. Avoid alcohol because it will make your REM sleep irregular. Try to eat light at night and don’t drink too many fluids for obvious bathroom reasons.

Everybody likes coffee. However, caffeine blocks brain signals from adenosine, a sleep chemical that nonetheless continues to accumulate. Like a dam breaking, that pent-up adenosine eventually rushes in, causing a dramatic crash. Try to drink your last coffee before 3 pm.

A great tactic that I’m doing myself and found very helpful is Meditation exercises, which help lower stress and make you more relaxed, thus making it easier to sleep.

Looking to the future, there is a number of things that should change as a society and improve our sleep. First, we should have an appreciation of the different chronotypes. Every person does not necessarily need to be at work at exactly the same moment in time. Since we are living in a capitalist economy, a system that is been used by almost all countries, companies have the power to change society sleep-wise and adjust every person's working hours to match their chronotype and optimizing the entire sleep of the company. Companies should give people the chance to sleep when they would like to and how much they would like. They have the power to stop this silent sleepiness epidemic.

Effective sleep is better for your career and your health. The earlier you start improving your sleep, the more you can expect to accomplish. If you made sleep a priority, you will be more successful in your job and your life. So, do not handicap yourself by failing to get enough rest.