Getting enough sleep is not a luxury reserved for the weekends or when you’re on vacation. Sure, we’re more likely to get a good night’s sleep when our schedules feel less cramped, or when there’s an inviting hammock swaying between two palm trees. But the reality of daily life is that your schedule is likely crowded for the long haul, and vacations only happen every so often throughout the year. You owe it to your health to get a good night’s sleep every night. Your body will thank you for it, too. It turns out that sleep has some very important connections to your health. Simply put, you can’t afford to skimp.
Sleep's Impact on Workplace and Employee Safety
Sleep deprivation can be a major predictor of accidents and injuries among fatigued workers and employees. Decision-making is compromised, and cognitive processes are slowed. The increased risk is stark and sobering.
That translates to wasteful injuries, but also lost productivity and potentially expensive health insurance and litigation costs. No sleep puts everyone involved at a higher risk for compromised safety. Dollar for dollar, employers who invest in the quality sleep of their employees come out on top.
The real deal on how much sleep we need: Why what we think we need is different from what we really need
It’s no secret that we all have our special preferences – just stand in line at the coffee shop and you’ll hear countless drink orders, from soy milk to vanilla flavoring or extra ice and cinnamon sprinkles. Knowing what we like and don’t like is part of what makes us human.
That doesn’t always make us right, though. Sometimes we don’t know ourselves as well as we’d like to think! Take sleep, for instance. Many of us think we have a handle on how much sleep we need. But scientific studies show otherwise. Over the long term, sleep deprivation and chronic lack of sleep actually make it harder for us to accurately gauge whether we are getting the appropriate amount of sleep.
Proving the Return On Investment and Productivity Gains of an Employee Sleep Wellness Program
Why Your Corporate Health Management Strategy Should Include A Sleep Program
If your inventory of the Monday morning conference table summons up images of bleary-eyed employees pouring a third cup of coffee to stay awake, or blotting away the cold symptoms they’ve been unable to kick, it’s probably time to rethink your organizations’s health management strategies. And it’s probably time to include a sleep program.
Melatonin And Delayed Sleep Phase
Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that signals the body it’s time for sleep. It is not regulated by the FDA and a wide variety of supplements are available. Before considering melatonin it’s important to consult with your physician to be sure you are a good candidate. Although it is naturally occurring, additional supplementation may be associated with some side effects. Safety in the elderly, those with heart disease, and in pregnancy / breastfeeding has not been fully established. Better safe than sorry, check with your doctor.
Get The Basics For Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Therapy, a component of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), is a type of psychotherapy. Cognitive Therapy focuses on ways you are thinking about a particular problem that might, in the long run, be making the problem worse. It involves exploring beliefs, attitudes, or perceptions you might hold that may be reinforcing the problem and then finding alternative ways of viewing the issue that can foster a more balanced perspective. This may in turn reduce your level of concern or anxiety. This is important because we sometimes have a tendency to assume the worst about things that are really bothering us which can render us less effective at managing them.
The next goal of the therapy is to then develop practical, workable strategies to help improve the situation. Through education and a number of mental techniques, Optisom's ProjectZ corporate sleep health solution offers an array of cognitive strategies that can help you adopt less negative thoughts and beliefs about sleep and insomnia.
Sleep: The Key to Healthy, Productive and Safe Employees
The importance of sleep cannot be overstated. In fact, the World Health Organization describes sleep as a basic human need. Without sleep, a person’s health, safety, quality of life, and performance become radically compromised. Decades ago, smoking cigarettes, overindulging in alcohol, driving without a seatbelt, and forgoing sunscreen were not only socially acceptable, but instead wryly celebrated as living life to the fullest.
While individual claims of “not needing sleep” or sleeping very little each night are still met with public approval, research now overwhelmingly demonstrates that insufficient sleep has drastic, negative impacts on health, safety, and human performance. Researchers have shown that enduring 24 hours without sleep, or a week of sleeping only four to five hours nightly, induces a physical, emotional, and cognitive impairment equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.1%.
Modern culture sets unrealistic expectations for 24/7 stimulation, propelled by artificial stimulants and never-ending access to technology and globalized social networks. Extremely long workdays create an unhealthy cycle that involves overindulging, sleeping in, and sedentary weekend activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared insufficient sleep to be a public health epidemic.
