As adults, we become increasingly aware just how important a good night’s sleep can be to our productivity. We are all aware that that getting an optimal amount of sleep will boost our mood and provide us with extra energy. And with good mood and energetic disposition at work, we can wow our colleagues and our boss, and maybe help us get promoted.
A good amount of sleep will help us from feeling burned out, aid us in recovering from our distractions quicker, and help clear our mind. This results to having a sharper memory, achieving alertness, making less mistakes, forging better relations with our colleagues and making better decisions. At the end of it, we perform better and become more productive at work.
While we all know too well about the benefits of adequate sleep, most of us (workaholics in particular) are too busy to realize them. There are few things worse than having a dreadful night’s sleep knowing you’ve got a busy day ahead at work. Without a full night’s shut-eye, we never feel at our best the following day.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults should aim to get around 8 hours each night. As you might imagine, this is often nothing but a pipe dream for many.
Sleep deprivation is actually starting to become a big problem too. According to this article from BBC News, the UK economy loses £40billion every year due to sleep deprived employees.
More often than not, we’d like to think what’s on the minds of the most successful people in the world. When you look at their routines, you’ll find that many of them enjoy plenty of shut-eye each night. Take a look at this list from Huffington Post which includes Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
One of the reasons many of us get a bad night’s sleep is because of our poor bedtime routines.
What Makes Us Sleep-Deprived?
Many of us have certain habits close to bedtime which disrupt our body and its natural process of facing asleep. These include (and some of these are quite surprising):
- Looking at our phones and tablets just before bedtime. That’s one of the worst things to do before bedtime — and most of us are guilty of that. The light emitted by this tech is interpreted by our brains as daylight and as a result makes us more awake.
- Watching TV or working on our laptops while in bed — the effect is the same with looking at our mobile gadgets.
- Drinking too much water or any other beverage before going to bed. Whenever we feel the call of nature, it forces us to wake up in order to get to pee, and that disturbs our normal sleep cycle.
- Drinking alcohol. Sure, it feels us drowsy at first, but the sleepy effect only lasts for a short time and eventually wears off. Alcohol reduces the rapid eye movement (RAM) as its stimulating effect starts to kick in, and this causes you to roll and tumble in bed. If you had to go to sleep, avoid drinking alcohol at least four hours before bedtime.
- Taking caffeinated drinks like coffee or energy drinks, as they tend to make us awake, restless and hyperactive. If you want to get a full hours’ sleep, do not take caffeine within 8 hours before you go to bed.
- Stress, worry and anxiety, as they could rob us the quality of our sleep. Thinking negative thoughts will also make us sleep-deprived. According to one study, almost 42% of adults are getting only fair or poor quality of sleep whenever they feel stressed. These factors could also increase the risk of insomnia.
Thankfully, a new infographic from sleepypeople.com has lots of helpful advice so you can create a better bedtime routine.
It’s called ‘13 Things Successful People Do Before Going To Bed’ and covers everything from unplugging from tech before bed to advice on what to eat and drink.
So, if you feel a little sluggish at work and want to boost your productivity, why not try out a few of the tips in the infographic below?
