Do we get enough sleep?
Ever since we have had televisions in bedrooms and mobile phones in our hands at all hours of the day and night the question has been there. Do we get enough sleep?
Recent studies suggest we may only get as much sleep as our ancient ancestors did. Apparently with all the looking out for dangerous things sleep was light anyway and that is something that we have kept through evolution.
Blue light emitted from televisions and mobile phones is thought to prevent the brain from creating melatonin, which we need to go to sleep. Keeping our brains active later is also not helping. If we read emails and try and work later into the evening we are not giving our brains time to 'switch off'.
Also, we tend to panic if we think we are not getting enough sleep. A few times in my life I have been laying awake in bed and worried that I wasn't getting to sleep. Really my body and brain probably didn't need so much sleep that night. Or perhaps I was too worried about something happening the next day.
The best way to sleep is to rid our minds of stress and worry. Easier said than done of course. I am one of life's great worriers so I can see why I have many of my sleepless nights. Currently I am about to go on holiday and that is one of the reasons I worry too.
As a nation we have retained our sense of puritanism and have a work ethic from there. Other nations are not so worried about taking naps during the day to make themselves more productive later on. The Spanish are well known for their siestas and, at a recent conference, one of the speakers told how she used to work in Dubai and they would have beds in the bathrooms and it was common to see workers taking a 20 minute nap because they were more productive later in the day as a result.
If you have that afternoon slump that is totally normal and you are supposed to sleep for 20 - 30 minutes at that point.
Why we don't do this I do not know. In Japan it is almost expected that you will take a nap at your desk or even in the middle of a meeting as it is a sign that you are actually so hard working that you are exhausted. In fact, workers are actively encouraged to sleep for 30 minutes between 1pm and 4pm in many offices. Workers say that they felt better generally as a result and they made less mistakes in their work.
This has to be a good thing for all. I would say that in terms of wellbeing in offices today that the ability to have somewhere quiet to sleep should be of the utmost importance. We don't think that sleep is that important but a lack of sleep can leave you feeling run down and susceptible to other illnesses. Embrace the nap time people. This is the real office revolution!
Recent studies suggest we may only get as much sleep as our ancient ancestors did. Apparently with all the looking out for dangerous things sleep was light anyway and that is something that we have kept through evolution.
Blue light emitted from televisions and mobile phones is thought to prevent the brain from creating melatonin, which we need to go to sleep. Keeping our brains active later is also not helping. If we read emails and try and work later into the evening we are not giving our brains time to 'switch off'.
Also, we tend to panic if we think we are not getting enough sleep. A few times in my life I have been laying awake in bed and worried that I wasn't getting to sleep. Really my body and brain probably didn't need so much sleep that night. Or perhaps I was too worried about something happening the next day.
The best way to sleep is to rid our minds of stress and worry. Easier said than done of course. I am one of life's great worriers so I can see why I have many of my sleepless nights. Currently I am about to go on holiday and that is one of the reasons I worry too.
As a nation we have retained our sense of puritanism and have a work ethic from there. Other nations are not so worried about taking naps during the day to make themselves more productive later on. The Spanish are well known for their siestas and, at a recent conference, one of the speakers told how she used to work in Dubai and they would have beds in the bathrooms and it was common to see workers taking a 20 minute nap because they were more productive later in the day as a result.
If you have that afternoon slump that is totally normal and you are supposed to sleep for 20 - 30 minutes at that point.
Why we don't do this I do not know. In Japan it is almost expected that you will take a nap at your desk or even in the middle of a meeting as it is a sign that you are actually so hard working that you are exhausted. In fact, workers are actively encouraged to sleep for 30 minutes between 1pm and 4pm in many offices. Workers say that they felt better generally as a result and they made less mistakes in their work.
This has to be a good thing for all. I would say that in terms of wellbeing in offices today that the ability to have somewhere quiet to sleep should be of the utmost importance. We don't think that sleep is that important but a lack of sleep can leave you feeling run down and susceptible to other illnesses. Embrace the nap time people. This is the real office revolution!
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