How sleep deprivation affect your work

Remember when you got your first smartphone and found yourself answering emails at ridiculous hours of the day? You may have proved to everyone your promptness and reliability but waking up several times at night whenever you got a message stressed you out and made you lose sleep; eventually all the lack of sleep you suffered wore you out and it’s starting to affect your performance at work.
You don’t have to stay up all night to feel bad in the next day, doctors say that if you regularly get less than 7 hours of sleep; your work will suffer. It’s not hard to tell if you’re losing sleep, the signs are very clear: you’re often, it takes you more time to do your job and it’s generally hard for you to concentrate.
Sleep deprivation affects your brain activities in more than one way:
Reduced Attention and concentration
When you’re not having enough sleep; one of the very first symptoms to watch out for is the difficulty to focus. Does your mind often drift while at work?
Longer Reaction time
This can be a serious problem in some jobs leading to work injuries. But even if you have the safest office job in the world, if it takes you longer to react while driving you may put your life and others’ at risk.
Poor Decision-making
Due to reduced attention and concentration, your decision-making ability will suffer too. Digesting all the information relation to the decision and thinking out of the box are going to be difficult if you can’t concentrate and find yourself distracted a lot.
Weak Memory
Your ability to learn and retain new information may be impaired due lack of sleep. Having a good night sleep is necessary for consolidating information and being able to recall them the next day.
Grumpiness
Ever heard of your friend’s grumpy boss? it could be that he/she is not getting enough sleep. If you don’t get your dose of a good night sleep you wake up in a bad mood. It’s exactly the same with children if they don’t get their nap; they become irritable and weepy.
While it is advised that you sleep well; in case of having slept for very few hours, you can still survive a day at work if you follow the following tips:
Caffeine
Drink caffeinated coffee, tea, or soda but in moderation. Try to have your dose early in the day since it takes hours for its effect to wear off. Keep in mind though; there’s no substitute to sleep.
Exercise
It might be difficult to exercise at work but if you have a chance, have a run around the block during the break or even better, start your day at the gym. Exercise is known to release endorphins, which makes you sharper and more alert.
Eat Up
If you haven’t had enough sleep last night, chances are you’re using up all your energy trying to concentrate. To boost your energy, grab an apple or any type of fruit that is full of good sugar. Meals that consist mainly of proteins would take a lot of energy to digest, which will put you into a food coma and if you opt for carbohydrates, you will most probably deal with a major crash later on.
Bright Light
Our bodies are biologically engineered to wake up when there’s light out, luckily you can somewhat fool your body into alertness by turning up indoor light. You can combine exercise with exposure to the light by taking a walk outside for the best results.
 

Source: AFP