Sleep issues are estimated to affect 40% of the population, with major implications for employee performance.
Workers who sleep less than six hours per night
lose around six working days per year due to absenteeism or presenteeism, when compared to colleagues who get a more healthy seven to nine hours.
Performance, safety and decision making are all impacted by lack of sleep, but researchers have also found strong links with depression.
Sleep is vital to our wellbeing, and we need enough to refresh energy stores and make repairs, as well as process, organise and save memories. We make sure to recharge our phones, screens and laptops every single night, so what about recharging ourselves?
The Sleepless Elite
Most people spend up to one third of their lives sleeping but in the world of high-powered business, where long hours have often been normalised, admitting to needing sleep has typically been regarded by some as a sign of weakness.
High achievers are often associated with sacrificing sleep, especially in the early years when they’re climbing the ladder and trying to stay ahead of competitors.
The ability to endure on less sleep gives leaders a certain mystique, separating them from lesser mortals. Margaret Thatcher is famously reputed to have slept for just four hours a night, while Donald Trump apparently tops that with a miserly 3 hours. Character building? A sign of superhuman strength? You decide.
Many successful entrepreneurs are ‘short sleepers’, including Elon Musk and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who have both claimed that 4-5 hours a night is all they need. They could be right, if they’re within the one to two percent of the population that are genetically disposed to survive on four hours sleep.
Bragging rights aside, competitive sleeping is not for the fainthearted and could prove damaging to success in the longer term. Starting work before everyone else and continuing into the night, doing crazy hours to ‘prove’ your dedication, motivation and drive is so last century – surely part of an outdated corporate culture that no longer fits.
Skimping on sleep is now thought to contribute to learning and memory problems, issues with decision making, lack of creativity and regulating emotions. There is even some evidence to suggest that a lack of sleep may increase the
risk of dementia.
How Sleep Deprivation Affects The Workplace
Although there’s no correct amount of sleep, most healthy adults need at least 7 hours, with an optimal level of between 7-8 hours depending on activity, age and overall health. Yet 1 in 8 adult Britons get
fewer than six hours sleep a night.
The same YouGov sleep study reveals that nearly a quarter of Brits say they take sleeping tablets; 36% report sometimes having alcohol before bedtime to help them sleep; and 68% report they very or fairly often feel tired when they wake up in the morning.
Lack of sleep is one of the leading causes of mental health in the workplace and it’s estimated that 40% of employees will suffer sleep issues. A staggering 200,000 UK working days are lost every year to insufficient and poor sleep, with a
cost to the economy of £40.2 billion in loss of productivity.
Neuroscience research shows that any sleep disturbance impairs IQ by between 5-8 IQ points. Missing just one night’s sleep can have a devastating effect on performance.
Whether you run the company, or just get paid and go home again, getting enough sleep is vital to being able to perform at our best, both mentally and physically.
Shift Workers
Shift work is known to be harmful to sleep because our body’s internal clock is designed to be active in the day with the light, and to fall asleep at night when its dark.
It’s thought that working shifts can prematurely age the brain and dull intellectual ability, damaging the body’s natural circadian clock. Night shift work is also linked to obesity because employees who sleep during the day burn fewer calories than when sleeping at night.
It’s estimated that around 4.1 million people work night shifts and that there’s 25-30% higher risk of injury working night shifts than day shifts.
While not all shift workers want to be limited to permanent nights, chronic sleep deprivation can also arise from not being able to get into any kind of routine so an on/off rotating shift pattern may not be the best solution for some.
What Should Employers Do?
Not being able to sleep can consume us. Whether it’s down to personal circumstances such as having a new baby or young children, general stress or work anxiety, environmental factors, or even no apparent cause at all, lack of sleep has a profound effect on our ability to function.
With sleep issues so prevalent among the general population, and the clear correlation between poor sleep, fatigue and work performance, we should all be concerned about the consequences.
Maintaining a healthy workplace culture plays an important role in busting ‘macho’ habits associated with working long hours and traditional after-work drinks. Saying no to boozy nights with colleagues can make people fear that they’ll appear anti-social and unambitious. As a result, companies are turning to more inclusive and healthier alternatives like bowling and lunchtime socials instead.
Employees must take responsibility for their own sleep hygiene, making sure they’re as well rested as possible in time for work, using self-help techniques where appropriate or seeking support from GPs or other specialists.
Problems with sleep are seen as deeply personal but the reality is that they’re no different from many other health or wellbeing issues.
While most employers are not going to adopt the Google approach – where sleep pods are provided so staff can grab power naps – they do have a stake in ensuring staff are fit to work and shouldn’t shy away from addressing sleep problems, as long as this done with sensitivity and care.
Managers can encourage dialogue and provide suitable support where needed, particularly if there are occupational causes such as shift work, or the problem has arisen during pregnancy, menopause or when returning to work after illness.
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