Apprenticeships
World Sleep Day - 19 March 2021
Friday 19th March 2021
Sienna Sandhu
This year's world sleep day falls as the world of work slowly turns back to normality, but how important is sleep to a productive day of work.
Did you know we spend around a third of our lives sleeping? Sleep is one of the most crucial factors of one's overall health. A good night's sleep allows your mind and body to repair and adequately prepares you for the next day and without it, the brain cannot function properly. However, how can a good night's sleep enable you to get the best out of you working day?
Improved Memory
For something to become a memory, three functions must occur, including:
- Acquisition -- learning or experiencing something new
- Consolidation -- the memory becomes stable in the brain
- Recall -- having the ability to access the memory in the future
The consolidation process occurs whilst we are sleeping. Are brains being at their most active, processing all our memories from the day and storing them as long-term memories. This is called Memory Consolidation. A good night's sleep is essential to allow these long-term memories to become permanent within the brain and without it, it becomes harder for our brains to absorb this information.
Better Concentration and Productivity
When we wake up tired, we are automatically setting ourselves up for a less productive day. Throughout the day, as the need for sleep increases our brain function decreases. This drop in brain function effects our focus, concentration and memory. Another problem with feeling tired throughout today is the is the consumption of coffee. Many people feel that a cup of coffee can be a quick fix to their drowsiness and while it does remedy the problem in the short term, it can lead to another sleepless night and an endless cycle. Waking up well rested is linked to higher cognitive function and enable us to get the most out of our working day.
Better Mood
University of Pennsylvania researchers found that subjects who were limited to only 4.5 hours of sleep a night for one week reported feeling more stressed, angry, sad, and mentally exhausted. When the subjects resumed normal sleep, they reported a dramatic improvement in mood. ( Dr . Lawrence J. Epstein December 15, 2008). Going to work in a better mood allows you to not only to be more enthusiastic towards your day and be more mentally prepared but allows you to enjoy you work. When well rested smaller challenges can be less annoying and set backs can be viewed from a more positive light allowing you to finish your day feeling happier and more productive.
It is clear that a good night's sleep is a vital aspect of maintaining your health but it also may just be the key to helping you prepare for the working days ahead. From all of us at Oxford Applied Training, go get some rest!...
...and when you're rested, why not contact us to discuss how we can help you and your team to build up your skills, efficiency and resilience through management training, IT and digital qualifications and apprenticeships.