Welcome to the month of “back to school” and for many it’s back to reality. Regardless of whether you have children in school, you can bet some of your employees do. This time of year begs adjustments, including bedtime and sleep. We spoke in last week’s blog about the dangers of multitasking and your mental well-being and a positive employee experience. Now, we’ll look at a most important topic in this blog series, sleep.
Shooting Yourself in the Foot with Poor Sleep?
Einstein reportedly only needed 4 hours and he was a genius; college students cope on intermittent sleep and others are travel weary yet still make their sales quotas. However, you know that functioning on little sleep is only survival mode. When leading a team, building a brand and needing to be competitive in your markets, adequate sleep sets you up for success. The American Sleep Association states this dynamic activity consists of 4 important stages ranging from light sleep, brain waves slowing, deep sleep, and ultimately, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep where dreams occur. Miss any of these stages and you’ll feel the results the next day!
Why is Sleep So Important?
According the CDC, more than one third of American adults are not sleeping enough on a regular basis (7+ hours per day). Whether from stress, interruptions from snoring or a restless partner, sleep deprivation affects brain function, mental wellbeing, physical health, and performance. Other impacts of sleep deprivation include, depression, increased risk of disease, high blood pressure, obesity, immune deficiencies, reduced muscle repair and irritability. In fact, sleep deprivation is thought to be responsible for at least $63 billion worth of lost productivity in the U.S. every year. It’s played a role in major accidents such as nuclear meltdowns, ship groundings and airline accidents.
Help Your Team Function Better
Take the initiative to recognize when your employees are stressed, weary and not on top of their game at work. For some, working from home is less stressful than driving a long commute into the office. Through effective technology and HR policies, it’s likely you can keep tabs on employee workloads while empowering your team to perform well remotely. Also, many workplaces install “Wellness Rooms” with a spot to rest or meditate during a busy day.
When you’re wanting to help your team perform better through wellbeing initiatives, contact me.