Getting adequate sleep is important for several reasons, including your physical health. However, one of the major consequences of not getting enough sleep relates to your brain – more specifically, your ability to concentrate and your productivity during the day.
Wondering why this is the case? Not sure how sleep can impact your brain? Well, you’re in the right place. This article explains how sleep can significantly impact your concentration and productivity and why you need it to boost your overall health.
Sleep and Productivity
Being productive in any part of your life – be it work or otherwise – usually means spending a significant portion of your time focused on an activity. It often also means compromising on other aspects of your life. For example, if you want to increase your productivity at work, you may need to put in longer hours.
The demand for productivity often leads people to compromise on their sleep. They instead choose to spend their time on more “constructive” activities. However, this can often backfire.
Research indicates that the worse you sleep (both in terms of length and quality), the less productive you are. One study suggested that poor sleep results in a nearly $2000 loss in productivity per person per day. In another survey, 75% of people spoken to admitted they feel less productive after a single night of poor sleep.
So, if you’re looking to become more productive, the research is clear – you will need to ditch the additional hours at work and spend more time sleeping instead.
How Much Sleep is Needed?
Even people who understand the importance of a good night’s sleep often wonder what “a good night’s sleep” actually means. One major question that is asked is how much sleep is too little?
Inadequate sleep is considered to be under 7 hours’ worth of sleep in a night – however, there are other factors that impact the quality of your sleep as well. For one, as the sleep specialists at City Mattress point out, it’s essential to have a comfortable mattress to sleep on that’s suitable for your needs. Furthermore, you should get an uninterrupted night’s sleep, rather than breaking the seven hours of shut-eye into smaller naps during the day.
Even a single night’s worth of inadequate sleep can affect a person’s productivity. For example, one survey showed that over half of the adults surveyed felt their memory was impaired after a bad night’s sleep – and a poor memory will naturally affect your productivity.
Sleep and Concentration
Sleep doesn’t just impact your productivity, it affects your ability to concentrate as well. A lack of sleep makes learning challenging because it impairs your ability to focus. Additionally, the effect of poor sleep on your memory means that concentrating on a single task becomes extremely challenging.
Furthermore, poor sleep weakens your problem-solving abilities, decision-making skills, and more – all of which means staying on topic is a problem for people with sleep deprivation.
Given the significant ways in which sleep – or lack thereof – can affect your ability to stay focused and continue to be productive, it’s easy to understand why experts recommend putting your sleep first. Make sure you follow healthy sleep habits and carve out enough time in your day to get the sleep you need at a decent hour.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
