May is Mental Health Awareness month. One aspect that impacts mental health and your career is the amount of sleep you get each night.
Adequate sleep is required to restore and repair body systems. Proper sleep also helps the brain properly function.
Long work hours, increasing stress levels, and regular use of electronic devices may be preventing you from getting enough sleep at night. You need at least 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night to perform your best at work.
Lack of adequate sleep has detrimental effects on both your career and mental health. This is why you need to make sleep a top priority each night.
Discover some adverse consequences lack of sleep can have on your career and mental health.
Impacts of Sleep Deprivation on Work
Like many employees, you may be working from home during the evening hours to make up for a lack of productivity during the day. This can reduce the amount of relaxation and sleep time you have at night.
Lack of adequate sleep affects the way you think, learn, interact with others, and react. Chronic sleep deprivation impacts the parts of your brain that regulate emotion. This can affect your motivation to complete your work and your drive to learn new things.
You likely will experience difficulty paying attention in meetings, focusing on your work, and completing tasks when you are sleep-deprived. This negatively impacts your creativity and ability to develop new ideas. It also increases the number of mistakes you make.
Mental Health Issues Linked to Sleep Deprivation
Chronic sleep deprivation can cause feelings of irritability, anger, and elevated stress. This amplifies your emotional reactions to stressful or negative situations. You may overreact at inappropriate times.
Over time, chronic sleep deprivation increases your risk for mental health concerns. Anxiety and depression are among them. This makes being productive at work even more challenging.
Methods to Improve Sleep
If you struggle to get enough sleep each night, there are steps you can take to improve.
- Go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day. This reinforces your natural sleep-wake cycle. If you cannot fall asleep within 20 minutes, leave your room to read, listen to soothing music, or meditate. When you are tired, try sleeping.
- Walk, cycle, or engage in another form of aerobic exercise for at least 10 minutes each day. This helps reduce stress, resets your sleep-wake cycle, and tires you out.
- Eat a handful of almonds or another high-protein snack 1 hour before going to bed. This provides the nutrients needed for sustained sleep. Avoid nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol, which can keep you awake.
- Keep your bedroom dark and cool. A fan or sound machine may help you sleep as well.
Find a Job with Work-Life Balance
Getting a job with a better work-life balance can help you get enough sleep each night. Contact Nordstrom Williams to assist in your job search today.