Nearly everyone at work seems tired. Men and women of all ages are yawning in meetings, dozing off in presentations and falling asleep at their desks then being rudely awakened when their heads crash into their computer keyboard. And that’s just what you can see. People are also napping in workplace bathrooms. What’s going on?

The obvious answer is that people aren’t getting enough sleep. Surveys by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) say sleep complaints have worsened in the last decade, according to a Knight Ridder article, with Americans averaging 6.9 hours of sleep a night in 2002. And 58% of American surveyed said they either have trouble falling or staying asleep.

You’ve undoubtedly heard that you’re supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night. But the NSF says 65% of Americans don’t get that much.

For most of my clients who work long hours, sleep is just not a priority. Getting stuff done is their focus. So they stay up late in home offices, at the kitchen table or propped up in bed working until they drop. And then they don’t sleep well because they wake up at three in the morning thinking about work. Then they’re less effective at work.

Depriving yourself of sleep makes you anxious, depressed, irritable and forgetful, says an article in the Washington Post. The NSF says mistakes and accidents due to sleep deprivation cost businesses $18 billion a year.

It can also cost you your health—possibly your job. Falling asleep at work can get you fired. Or worse, it can get you or someone killed if you’re driving a vehicle or operating machinery.

Falling asleep at work is not just a problem in America. According to a survey conducted by recruiting website Monster, one in four Europeans falls asleep on the job, reports onrec.com. Of the 21,489 surveyed, nearly 40% of Irish and 35% of British workers admitted copping a quick snooze at work. The most common place is at their desk, with meetings being a close second. Bathrooms are the next most common place to nap.

Swedish and French workers admit they too have fallen asleep at work. But nearly half of the Dutch respondents said they had never done so, although many said it was a big challenge sometimes. Eighty percent of Italians claim they have never fallen asleep at work.

This, says the article, is a sign of a workforce that’s not motivated or over-worked due to repetitive tasks, long meetings with no breaks, stuffy environments and computer screens.

Whatever the reason--and with 40% of Americans toiling more than 50 hours per week—here are some suggestions to help you become more productive at work and healthier overall:

• Make sleep a priority. Most people enjoy sleep. See it as a part of your life, instead of something you do when your body is pushed to the limit and can’t live without it.
  
• Eat healthier snacks during the day. Put out bowls of nuts instead of chocolate and chips in meeting breaks and on desks. All that sugar isn’t helping.
  
• Don’t make work be the last thing you do before you go to sleep. Just because you can bring your laptop to bed to work on that proposal or send e-mails all hours of the night doesn’t mean you should. There are lots of things you can do but wouldn’t because they’re downright bad for you. This is one of those.
  

© by Andrea Kay

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