Getting restful sleep is vital for your overall well being as well as your performance at work. If you want to be successful in your career, getting enough sleep is paramount. In our hectic modern society, not everyone appreciates how important good sleep is and what the consequences of lack of sleep can be. To help you understand why prioritising your sleep is important, this blog will look into how lack of sleep can affect your[ work, plus some tips for improving how well you sleep.

Why sleep is important

Sleep is important for everybody, regardless of age or lifestyle. Sleeping at night gives your body and mind an opportunity to recover so that you’re refreshed and ready to start again the following day. Sleep is an important part of every process that goes on inside your body. During sleep, the brain and body carry out many vital functions. This means that good sleep is essential to your general wellbeing. It can also help you to maintain a healthy weight.

Lack of sleep can affect your body in a variety of ways and can also have an impact on your eyesight. Eye strain, light sensitivity, and dry eyes are symptoms of sleep deprivation and are some of ways that sleep can impact your eye health. It’s also not only your physical health that sleep has useful benefits for. Getting proper amounts of sleep can also help your mental health too by improving your cognitive functions, and also reducing stress, anxiety, and fatigue. This means that you need to get enough sleep so you can act professionally at work and perform at your best.

How lack of sleep affects workers

A lack of sleep can have a significant impact, which can be particularly noticeable when you’re at work. Because sleep helps you to function mentally, if you’re deprived of sleep you’re likely to find it harder to concentrate. Difficulty concentrating can have a negative impact on your productivity and efficiency at work. This can be detrimental to your performance at work.

Lack of sleep of course causes fatigue. This means that you have lower energy levels, may think and act more slowly, or have difficulty understanding things. Again, these issues can affect how productive and efficient you are. Chronic sleep deprivation can negatively impact your work and subsequently your reputation as a professional and can end up significantly affecting day to day business routines.

How to improve performance

If lack of sleep is affecting your performance at work you can address this. There are various things you can do to get better sleep and be more alert and refreshed at work.

• Assess your priorities – the Sleep Foundation suggests that reorganising your priorities is one of the best ways to help get more sleep and therefore help improve your job performance. When you’re tempted to stay up late and miss out on sleep, think about whether it’s really worth it. It’s important to prioritise sleep appropriately.

• Create the right routine and environment – your bedtime routine and environment can affect how well you sleep so it’s worth reviewing this. Consider things like what time you go to bed, what your routine is for winding down, and how much caffeine you consume throughout the day.

• Examine your schedule – some work schedules make it harder to get proper sleep so it’s worth thinking about how your schedule is impacting your sleeping patterns. In some cases, it can be helpful to raise this with your employer but remember that sometimes it’s not possible to change your working patterns.

• Seek medical advice – if you’re having ongoing issues with sleep it might be worth seeking advice from your GP or a specialist. They can support you with developing a routine and optimising your ability to sleep. If you’re still struggling after trying other options it might be helpful to consider medical help.

Sleep matters for workers

It’s clear that good sleep matters for workers, even though many of us struggle to get enough sleep. If you’re having difficulties and are concerned about how it’s affecting your work, there are useful steps you can take that can help things to improve.