There are more benefits of a good night’s sleep on your mental and physical health than you may think- it’s not just about not being tired…
Sleep is something that we all need, and it’s recommended that we aim to have 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Making sure that we’re not tired helps us manage our moods and mental health, we all know that people can get a little snappy and irritated when they’re tired. Having a good amount of sleep can make us feel more refreshed and positive for the day ahead, and this is especially good when it comes to work and attendance.
Sleep helps support various aspects of brain function, including cognition, concentration, productivity, and performance. We’re more likely to understand and take things in, and act upon things appropriately and effectively. In terms of work, this boosts productivity and work quality as we’re more likely to do things without mistakes and at a high standard, as well as fully understanding what we’ve been tasked with.
What are the effects of interrupted sleep?
Poor sleep is also linked to depression and poor mental health, but it’s a negative cycle. Lack of sleep leads to poor mental health, but poor mental health can lead to a lack of sleep. It can create a battle and impact one’s mental health negatively further. Lack of sleep can make you more likely to feel anxious or depressed, more irritable, lonely, lethargic, and impact relationships with family, friends or work as a result.
It can lead to poor relationships and communication with colleagues, taking longer than usual to complete tasks, and completing them at a lower quality than usual. Ultimately, it leads to a rise in presenteeism; being at work in a tired state means that staff may not feel fully present and focussed. For a lot of people, feeling very tired can make them feel physically unwell with headaches and feeling rundown.
How Can Occupational Health & Wellbeing Help?
Our Employee Wellbeing Strategies offer healthy living education and support that can manage stress and help staff cope so that they can feel better mentally, which in turn leads to better quality sleep. Making sure that staff are happy at work and that their workload is manageable and suitable for them and their needs, will ensure that they are in an overall better state of mind.
Stress, whether it be over work or personal reasons, is a huge contributor towards lack of sleep. Keeping employee stress levels low is key to having a healthy and productive workforce. We use our unique product set to bring measurable benefits in Employee Wellbeing to organisations, which includes:
