Sleeping With Work

How switching off can increase your productivity.

Many of us are guilty of letting our beds become our work desk, or our lounge rooms and even our dining room tables. We stay up late to answer one more work email, under the assumption that working into the night will save time tomorrow.  But instead we wake up the next day tired and unproductive, and the only thing we achieved was an unsettled night of 5 hours sleep.

 

Do not fear, you’re not alone. A UK study found 1 in 5 people spent between 2-6 hours a night working on their beds on laptops or mobiles. With many of these people sleeping with their phone and other devices by the bed, distracting them through the night.  Our night time habits are leaving us tired and worn down the next day. 

When we use our bed as a multitasking workspace our bodies become confused and disassociate sleep with our bed.   Our body associates those busy hours at night before bed as work time, making it more difficult to switch off and sleep when you lay our head down.

Other sleep killers are our pesky laptops and phone before bed.  It’s the light from our technology keeping us up at night, not our work emails.   This light from our screens suppresses the sleep hormone of melatonin, making it difficult for us to fall and stay sound asleep.

So how do you cut down your work time for a better night’s sleep?  Turn off you're deceiving at least 30 minutes before bed, giving your body enough time to relax and unwind. Use your living room table as your workspace, making your bed once again your sleep space.

So next time you see another work email, remove the phone from your room, roll over and rest for the day ahead. 

Tags: Wellness