Whenever someone sees an employee working round the clock while compromising their sleep, they immediately think of how “hard-working” they are. Losing sleep just to get work done or to earn some extra dollars isn’t something that needs to be applauded, as it can have detrimental effects on one’s mental as well as physical health.
Furthermore, giving a presentation the next day or completing a crucial task can make an individual feel more anxious, and there’s no doubt a cozy weighted blanket can ease anxiety along with other techniques. No matter what strategies you use to help a good night’s sleep, the trend of sleep deprivation needs to go in order to make top business brands even more successful.
It’s important to realize that there’s no magic pill to getting all your work done quickly in the office or providing exceptional solutions to problems. Only sleep can make you more successful, but many people sacrifice it in order to get more work done. This, in return, slows down the workflow and makes an individual more stressed out, which disrupts sleep.
This sounds like a loophole, right? There are several other factors that affect your productivity due to sleep. Read below!
Lack of Sleep Leads to Poor Productivity at Work
If you’re sleep-deprived, your brain won’t be able to function well. In other words, you will find it hard to focus and pay attention to different tasks, and staying vigilant will be a challenge for you.
Moreover, lack of sleep is the major cause of employees feeling exhausted and lethargic during their work hours. This means they won’t be able to generate creative ideas that may pave the way for their promotion. This, in return, can also impact the level of motivation at work.
All of this leads to poor productivity and efficiency at work. This is also one of the reasons why people bring half of their uncompleted work at home, and they end up working the entire day.
Sleep Deprivation Makes You More Immune to Health Issues
When you sleep, your body works to make your immune system more efficient. Your immune system helps you protect from various diseases and infections, and lack of sleep can lead to a poor defense system.
As you will get sick, you won’t be really able to go to work, or even if you do, you won’t be able to perform well. In case you remain sick most of the time, it can have a drastic effect on your professional career.
Less Accuracy at Work
Although you may think of compromising an extra hour of sleep to prepare for the next day at work or to ace a test, you should keep in mind that it will merely lead to more errors because of your brain’s increased reaction times.
As you will take more time to think about an important decision, you will be likely to make more errors. This is mostly the case in such professions where you have to make quick decisions, such as a surgeon, pilot, or driver.
It’s also vital to consider that there have been plenty of disastrous outcomes in the past which were caused by the lack of sleep. For instance, the Chernobyl nuclear explosion and the Challenger space shuttle disaster.
Influence on Mental Health
Poor sleep can make you more groggy, irritated, and moody, and this can affect how you treat your colleagues. As most of the projects at school or workplace require you to work together in groups, you will find it hard to cooperate with them, and they may also become frustrated with your behavior. Therefore, making you lag behind on important tasks. In addition to this, sleep deprivation also leads to poor mental health like anxiety and depression. So it’s certainly not easy to perform your best when you struggle with such mental illnesses.
How to Improve Your Quality of Sleep for Improved Productivity?
Now that you know the relationship between quality of sleep and work performance, it’s important to make sure you get the recommended seven to eight hours of good quality sleep. Hence, we have mentioned a few tips below to help you with that.
Prioritize your tasks. You may feel like giving up an extra hour of sleep to study or work more, but before doing so, you must reevaluate your priorities. Think of the consequences that you will have to face due to lack of sleep and make sure your sleep schedule isn’t affected.
Foster good sleep habits. For good quality and quantity of sleep, you should ensure you have an ideal sleep environment that is followed by a consistent bedtime routine. You should also get rid of bad eating habits during the daytime to prevent any issues while sleeping at night.
Talk to a professional. Sometimes problems with sleep can be a cause of a serious underlying problem, therefore, it’s better to talk to a doctor. They can offer you optimal solutions to cope with your sleeping issues, so your productivity in daily life isn’t compromised at all.
