Any professional is familiar with the irritation of being at their desk, staring at the screen, and having no concentration in spite of the fact that they have deadlines that need to be met.
We tend to attribute such declines in productivity to stress, workload, or lack of motivation. But the true culprit could be right in front of us, and it could be the lack of sleep quality.
There is much more to the connection between the quality of sleep and the quality of performance you have in the day than most individuals know.
Knowing the Sleep-Productivity Relationship
Sleep is not merely sleeping eight hours with your eyes closed. It is also a complicated biological phenomenon that has a direct impact on cognitive ability, emotional stability, and physical vitality.
During deep sleep, your brain takes the time to consolidate memories, process information and clear out metabolic waste of information that has built up during your wakefulness.
These vital maintenance processes are not complete without proper quality rest as you wake up the following day in a daze and you are physically exhausted.
Studies have always indicated that sleep-deprived people commit more mistakes, require more time to accomplish tasks, and possess low imagination when solving problems.
A bad one-night sleep is enough to cause up to 30 percent of your cognitive ability to be impaired, just like a night of legal drunkenness in certain tests.
The Four Stages That Matter
Regular patterns of your night rest are going through different parts and performing different forms of restorative functions.
The light sleep gives your body pre-sleep, whereas the deep sleep does the physical restoring and strengthening of your immune system. The most important function of sleep is the REM sleep, in which the majority of dreams are experienced, and in which there is an emotional process and consolidation of memories.
If your body is not properly supported, it can cause frequent awakenings and disrupt your natural progression through these cycles.
For an extra layer of relaxation before bed, some people also explore natural wellness aids to help calm the mind and body.
Those who shop the best cbd gummies for sale often find they can unwind more easily, paving the way for deeper, more restorative sleep and better mornings ahead.
Any disturbance of these cycles, both caused by discomfort, stress or other environmental conditions, will leave your brain unable to complete its nightly maintenance regimen. This disintegration is what makes you sleep up to eight hours and still wake up feeling tired and mentally lethargic.
Morning BMI of Sleep Quality
How you get up in the morning tells all about how you slept last night. Good sleep must make you feel:
- Usually, I wake up at 15-20 minutes with alertness.
- Clear minded enough not to rely on too much coffee to make decisions.
- Physically stimulated and in motion.
- Calm down and be tolerant to everyday problems.
In the event that these markers are missing, there is a good probability that your sleep quality requires some attention irrespective of the number of hours you spent in bed.
The Crash of Afternoon: The Answer
That insanity to take naps at around 2 PM is not about what you had at lunch. Though circadian rhythms do induce a natural droop in vigor in the early afternoon, it is poor night-time sleep that makes this sensation dramatic.
Individuals that have a good sleep will feel slightly sleepy at this time, and they can easily overcome this slump. The compromised sleep quality people, however, have to struggle to stay awake, grab their third cup of coffee, or hope that they could just crawl under their desk.
How to make Your Sleep Sanctuary
The environment of your bedroom also has a great impact on the quality of your sleep. The temperature is an issue that many people probably do not know about, the experts suggest the best temperature to sleep in is between 60-67 degrees Fahrenheit.
Even a bit of light is equally important, because even slight traces of light may disrupt a melatonin production and break your sleep patterns.
Mattress support and comfortable bedding is not a luxury to invest in, it is a productivity infrastructure. Your body requires a stable and comfortable support to rest and pass sleep stages without any breaks. Think too of the noises around you. White noise of a constant, soft nature tends to be more effective at covering disruptive noise than silence.
Conquering the Stress-Sleep Cycle
The stress at work and lack of sleep form a vicious cycle. Stress hormones such as cortisol disrupts the quality of sleep and lack of sleep lowers your coping mechanism to stress. This cycle just builds and builds until one is in a chronic state of exhaustion but they cannot sleep.
The only way to interrupt this trend is with conscious limits between work and rest. Set a strict deadline after which work related tasks should end and preferably it should be at least two hours before sleep. Use this buffer time to do the things that can actually make you feel relaxed instead of just wasting your time with screens.
The Technology Trap
The phones, tablets, and computers produce blue light, which suppresses the production of melatonin, and it becomes difficult to fall asleep and once you fall asleep, the quality of your sleep is poor.
Other than being exposed to light, the material you watch before sleep is also important. Looking at work emails or scrolling the anxiety-inducing news feeds keep your brain active when it is supposed to be relaxing.
Measuring Your Progress
Productivity does not involve merely going through tasks but the quality of output and the satisfaction you get doing this.
As the quality of your sleep becomes better, you can observe how fast your decision-making process is, how creative, and emotionally able to withstand all the events throughout the day. These small gains add up in the long run, radically boosting your work ability and individual health.
The quality of your sleep and your professional success are not independent of each other but the basis on which all other things are founded.