As busy individuals, it’s sometimes difficult to get the proper required levels of sleep at night. As it’s commonly known, most individuals should strive to obtain eight hours of sleep each night. The projected sleep goal does vary depending upon your age, but it’s most commonly known that optimum success is achieved with a minimum of eight hours of rest each night.
Over an extended period of time, a lack of sleep can have many consequences on your daily routine. Many of us do not stop to analyze our sleep times from the prior days, which can often times provide insight on how our week has gone.
Productivity
One of the most common effects of a lack of sleeping time is our productivity level. The average American works forty plus hours each week, if a full time job is obtained. Within this work week, many professionals must juggle taking children to school, after school activities, and preparing meals. Additionally, within the workweek, professionals must plan for themselves, and plan out meals while at work, pay bills, clean the house, and juggle all other aspects that allow an individual to maintain a healthy household.
Sometimes these tasks can become daunting, and it’s important to consider hiring outside help if you find yourself having trouble juggling tasks throughout the week. Having too much on your plate can decrease productivity levels, and alter our ability to perform tasks at work that are required for our well-being. Additionally, a lack of sleep can cause us to be much slower at other, non-work related tasks, like getting the kids out of bed in the morning, or packing lunches for school. For families on a schedule, being productive in all aspects of their weekly schedule is vital.
Focus
We all experience individuals who might be daydreamers at work. Whether they have too much to do, or are simply individuals who lack focus on the job, there is usually an underlying cause to the lack of initiative. Again, not obtaining eight hours of sleep at night can be a leading cause of daydreaming while on the job.
Additionally, areas outside of the office can be affected by a lack of sleep. Lacking focus behind the wheel can put you, and your entire family at risk on a daily basis, if enough sleep is not added to a routine. Driving to, and from work and children’s activities can all be put on the line, simply from lacking the necessary resting time your body requires.
Mental State
A less focused upon area, but extremely important aspect of our well-being is our mental state. With a lack of sleep, individuals can quickly become easily stressed when the simplest of tasks are presented. Our mental state becomes strained and can easily change when we are low on sleep. Confrontation can easily result as a decreased mental state arises. Sometimes, these sudden, sporadic behaviors cannot be controlled when we are low on sleep. It can compromise friendships, and even allow others to have different viewpoints on your personality.
Your Health is Important
As an overarching rule of thumb, it’s vital for the health and wellbeing of you, and those around you to ensure you are obtaining at least eight hours of rest each night. The proven benefits of a good night’s sleep outweigh the benefit of having an extra hour of time watching the television at night, or away from home. What are some of the best tricks instilled into your daily routine, that help to maximize your sleeping time?