What You Should Know About Your Sleep, Work, and Productivity -

What You Should Know About Your Sleep, Work, and Productivity - This post is sponsored by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Todays work environment is both demanding and competitive.   So much so that its common, and sometimes expected, that work weeks edge into the 50 or 60 hour range.   In the U.S. the average work week is 47 hours, and for salaried workers its 49.   And almost 20% say they regularly exceed 60 hours.   With the other demands on our time that come from family and general life, its become easy to carve out extra time from our sleep.   But how wise is that? What are the effects of being sleep deprived? While we all push ourselves, for work or pleasure, from time to time.   But doing so at the expense of sleep can be counter-productive in a number of ways.   Heres a look at how your sleep, work, and productivity are related, and what the real costs of insufficient sleep are. Insufficient Sleep by The Numbers With the aforementioned statistics, it should be surprising that 37% of workers are clocking in sleep-deprived.   Although its frequently viewed as a badge of honor to burn that midnight oil, theres a cost.    Those costs include For someone regularly getting only six hours of sleep, theres a loss of six days of productivity over the course of a year. (National Safety Council) Nationally, insufficient sleep accounts for the effective loss of nearly 1.25 million working days annually. (RAND Corporation) Clearly, its no wonder the American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests including the importance of sleep in employer health and safety programs  with it’s #SleepWorksforYou program.    Sleep education in general, and why adequate sleep is so important, has been overlooked.   Its essential to raise the general level of awareness. How Being Sleep Deprived Affects You You may think that pouring in a few extra cups of coffee or having another soda is the antidote to sleep deprivation.   But thats not true.   Adding increasing amounts of caffeine only masks the effects.   That energy boost you feel is hiding reality.   Heres whats really going on: Your decision-making   ability is impaired. Youll find that your problem solving skills are reduced. Youll have cognitive and motor performance deterioration, comparable to drinking alcoholic beverages. You might be accused of non-functional work presence (presenteeism) increases. Youll have increased cycles of feeling less motivated and low-energy. Beyond Productivity Loss While loss of productivity may be of high importance to the bottom line, theres more. Sleep deprived workers are more   prone to accident and injury. Continual sleep deprivation has a negative impact on general health. Each of those, of course, reflects ultimately on productivity.   So both short term and long term, its beneficial to employers to promote healthy sleep habits. Want To Be More Productive?   Sleep More! accurately, you should get the proper amount of sleep.   The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends seven or more hours on a regular basis for healthy sleep.   Don’t be tempted to short-change yourself of what your mind and body require to perform at their best.   It’ll pay off in higher long-term productivity.   And, you’ll get a nice bonus of better health!