“Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory, makes you more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll feel even happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested?”
It’s sleep.
Mark Walker, “Why We Sleep”
Getting a good night’s rest may be the greatest boon to communicating at work you can make.
Proper sleep gives you the ability to communicate with confidence, persuasion and a uniquely attractive personality. Having an established sleep routine is critical to your business success, helping you to express your ideas and opinions, understand others, solve problems and much more.
With a good night’s sleep and communication confidence in hand, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with at your next big presentation, meeting or job interview.
Good sleep helps us better express our thoughts and ideas through words and vocal cues. Having insufficient sleep can affect your ability to articulate yourself. When sleep deprived, it can be much harder to put your thoughts into words during a conversation. It can also be difficult to deliver ideas with the correct vocal intonation. This is important as intonation helps deliver meaning beyond words, it’s how we convey our feelings and emotions while speaking.
When we have high-quality sleep, we’re more likely to be productive, be a good team player and work better with others. In one study, participants were given a task where one person had to verbally give instructions to build a model, while the other followed with their back turned. When sleep deprived, the builder’s ability to efficiently follow instructions was impaired.
It’s really hard to be productive when you’re in this foggy, grumpy, irritable state, especially if that’s your normal state because you haven’t been getting good sleep for a long time.
Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep to function at their best. Anything less increases the risk of work inefficiency, irritable mood, accidents, and ill health.
Positive changes to your sleep habits won’t happen overnight. With patience and practice, you’ll find which sleep routines work best for your body and health. When you achieve better quality and quantity sleep, you can feel your best and improve your communication at work.
How Do You Know if You Need More Sleep?
Because individual sleep needs vary, experts say the best way to gauge whether you’re getting enough sleep is by how you feel. You shouldn’t feel sleepy when you wake up. You should be energetic throughout the day and slowly wind down as you approach your usual bedtime.
Assessing your day-to-day abilities and quality of life, ask yourself if your cognitive performance is where you want it to be. Are you having conflicts with other employees or your boss over your memory, attention, or concentration — and particularly your ability to communicate?
Is it Okay to Sleep Late on the Weekends?
“Sleep debt” is the difference between how much sleep you need (at least six hours nightly) and how much you get. When you regularly miss sleep, your sleep debt accumulates, and your ability to function becomes increasingly impaired. It’s harder to concentrate, your reaction times double, and you experience attention lapses at a rate five times higher than normal. Scarily, scientists have seen these effects even when the sleep-deprived individual doesn’t notice any changes in their ability to communicate.
A common approach to paying off sleep debt is to sleep in on the weekends. Over 50 percent of Americans follow this practice, sleeping more on weekends than they do during the workweek — but does that really work? Sleeping in on weekends has its pros and cons, and scientists are still undecided as to whether it’s effective.
What are the Benefits of Sleeping Late on Weekends?
Sleeping late on weekends is popular and has two benefits.
Relaxation
There’s no denying it: sleeping late on weekends feels good. Sleeping late on weekends begins in adolescence, and we keep the habit going strong into adulthood. After an exhausting week filled with work, social, and family responsibilities, sleeping late can feel like a reward.
Potential Sleep Debt Recovery
In general, sleep has a U-shaped relationship with certain health consequences, including increased mortality. Sleep too little, or too long, and your risk of dying early increases compared to those who get a healthy amount of sleep on a regular basis. Specifically, long sleepers have a 25% increased mortality risk, while short sleepers have a 65% higher risk.
However, recent research suggests that catching up on sleep over the weekend may have a protective effect against these negative long-term health consequences. One large-scale study of over 43,000 adults found that when short sleepers sleep late on the weekends, their mortality risk lowers to the same level as healthy sleepers.
The Risks of “Social Jetlag”
You may naturally wake up later on the weekend than you do during weekdays, when you must get to work or school by a specific time. The discrepancy between your body’s natural sleep schedule, or circadian rhythm, and your social schedule is known as “social jetlag,” and it’s measured by the midpoint of your sleep. For example, if you sleep from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weeknights, the midpoint of your sleep is 3 a.m. If you sleep from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends, the midpoint shifts two hours later to 5 a.m.
Higher levels of social jetlag are associated with higher rates of obesity, inflammation, smoking, and alcohol use. The worse your social jetlag, the higher your likelihood of depression. For example, social jetlag of two hours, as opposed to one hour or less, is associated with higher levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), shorter weekday sleep, less physical activity, and a higher heart rate. These conditions increase your risk of developing diabetes and depression. However, even just one hour of social jetlag can have serious effects.
Is Sleeping Late on Weekends Right for You?
The best test is to pay attention to how you feel when you sleep late on weekends. Do you feel awake and alert, or do you feel groggy and grumpy? If you feel refreshed and restored after sleeping, then what you’re doing is working. If you don’t feel your best, it may be worth adjusting your weekend sleep schedule to align with your weekday schedule.
That doesn’t mean you necessarily have to forego sleep on the weekends, though. A better approach to catch up on sleep debt may be with a nice, refreshing nap. Let yourself relax with a short 20- to 30-minute nap on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, ideally between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Keeping your naps brief prevents you from feeling even groggier upon waking up. Instead, you’ll feel refreshed, and still be able to go to sleep on time that evening.
Also, consider what’s making you want to sleep late. Are you exhausted from the week, or are you staying up later on weekend nights? What else changes about your schedule on the weekends? For example, you may be drinking or eating more heavily, especially later at night. Heavy foods and alcohol can both interfere with the quality of your sleep, so you may want to sleep later to make up for it.
There are many factors which interfere with a good night’s sleep. A rotating work schedule or important project may keep us tossing and turning. Our daytime habits may hold the key to solving the nighttime blues. By consistently getting the right amount of sleep, you set yourself up with the inner strength you need to make good choices at work and personal life.
15 Simple Ways to Improve the Quality of Your Sleep
- Cut down on caffeine. Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. Caffeine also increases the need to urinate during the night.
- Stop smoking or chewing tobacco. Nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant that can cause insomnia. People who kick the habit fall asleep more quickly and wake less often during the night.
- Use alcohol sparingly. Alcohol suppresses REM sleep, a necessary phase of sleep for brain function. Alcohol is responsible for as much as 10% of chronic insomnia cases. Alcohol can worsen snoring and other nocturnal breathing problems.
- Exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day but no later than a few hours before going to bed. Regular exercise provides three important sleep benefits: you fall asleep faster, sleep more deeply, and awaken less often at night.
- Improve your sleep surroundings. Remove the television, telephone and office equipment from the bedroom. Electronic devices emit blue light that interferes with natural sleep.
- Stick to a regular schedule. People with regular sleep patterns report fewer problems with insomnia and fewer signs of depression. We have these circadian rhythms, these internal clocks that tell us when to be awake, when to be asleep, when to be hungry.
- Reduce stress. If work, relationship, financial or other concerns are keeping you awake at night, ask for help.
- Relax before bed – try a warm bath, reading or another relaxing routine like meditation.
- Don’t lie in bed awake. If you can’t get to sleep, do something else, like reading or listening to music, until you feel tired.
- Limit your news exposure. Mainline media’s mantra is “If it bleeds, it leads.”
- Wear an eye mask and earplugs to block unwanted light and noise.
- Try diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) because it helps to calm the mind.
- Cool the room: Your body temperature decreases as you sleep. Find a temperature that doesn’t make you wake up feeling too hot or cold. Experiment with a fan or light blankets to see what feels good to you.
- Use your bed for sex and sleep only: If you struggle to fall asleep in bed after 20 minutes, get out of bed and do a quiet activity. Return to your bed when you feel sleepy.
- If you find yourself drooping at midday, consider taking a power nap. Napping at work for no longer than 10 to 20 minutes can give you the alertness boost you need to perform well.
With all the benefits of proper sleep to help you communicate well with others, isn’t it worth the effort to get on a sleep routine that works for you and be at your best seven days a week?
Resources:
National Sleep Foundation – https://www.nsf.org
###
“Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory, makes you more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll feel even happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested?”
It’s sleep.
Mark Walker, “Why We Sleep”
Getting a good night’s rest may be the greatest boon to communicating at work you can make.
Proper sleep gives you the ability to communicate with confidence, persuasion and a uniquely attractive personality. Having an established sleep routine is critical to your business success, helping you to express your ideas and opinions, understand others, solve problems and much more.
With a good night’s sleep and communication confidence in hand, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with at your next big presentation, meeting or job interview.
Good sleep helps us better express our thoughts and ideas through words and vocal cues. Having insufficient sleep can affect your ability to articulate yourself. When sleep deprived, it can be much harder to put your thoughts into words during a conversation. It can also be difficult to deliver ideas with the correct vocal intonation. This is important as intonation helps deliver meaning beyond words, it’s how we convey our feelings and emotions while speaking.
When we have high-quality sleep, we’re more likely to be productive, be a good team player and work better with others. In one study, participants were given a task where one person had to verbally give instructions to build a model, while the other followed with their back turned. When sleep deprived, the builder’s ability to efficiently follow instructions was impaired.
It’s really hard to be productive when you’re in this foggy, grumpy, irritable state, especially if that’s your normal state because you haven’t been getting good sleep for a long time.
Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep to function at their best. Anything less increases the risk of work inefficiency, irritable mood, accidents, and ill health.
Positive changes to your sleep habits won’t happen overnight. With patience and practice, you’ll find which sleep routines work best for your body and health. When you achieve better quality and quantity sleep, you can feel your best and improve your communication at work.
How Do You Know if You Need More Sleep?
Because individual sleep needs vary, experts say the best way to gauge whether you’re getting enough sleep is by how you feel. You shouldn’t feel sleepy when you wake up. You should be energetic throughout the day and slowly wind down as you approach your usual bedtime.
Assessing your day-to-day abilities and quality of life, ask yourself if your cognitive performance is where you want it to be. Are you having conflicts with other employees or your boss over your memory, attention, or concentration — and particularly your ability to communicate?
Is it Okay to Sleep Late on the Weekends?
“Sleep debt” is the difference between how much sleep you need (at least six hours nightly) and how much you get. When you regularly miss sleep, your sleep debt accumulates, and your ability to function becomes increasingly impaired. It’s harder to concentrate, your reaction times double, and you experience attention lapses at a rate five times higher than normal. Scarily, scientists have seen these effects even when the sleep-deprived individual doesn’t notice any changes in their ability to communicate.
A common approach to paying off sleep debt is to sleep in on the weekends. Over 50 percent of Americans follow this practice, sleeping more on weekends than they do during the workweek — but does that really work? Sleeping in on weekends has its pros and cons, and scientists are still undecided as to whether it’s effective.
What are the Benefits of Sleeping Late on Weekends?
Sleeping late on weekends is popular and has two benefits.
Relaxation
There’s no denying it: sleeping late on weekends feels good. Sleeping late on weekends begins in adolescence, and we keep the habit going strong into adulthood. After an exhausting week filled with work, social, and family responsibilities, sleeping late can feel like a reward.
Potential Sleep Debt Recovery
In general, sleep has a U-shaped relationship with certain health consequences, including increased mortality. Sleep too little, or too long, and your risk of dying early increases compared to those who get a healthy amount of sleep on a regular basis. Specifically, long sleepers have a 25% increased mortality risk, while short sleepers have a 65% higher risk.
However, recent research suggests that catching up on sleep over the weekend may have a protective effect against these negative long-term health consequences. One large-scale study of over 43,000 adults found that when short sleepers sleep late on the weekends, their mortality risk lowers to the same level as healthy sleepers.
The Risks of “Social Jetlag”
You may naturally wake up later on the weekend than you do during weekdays, when you must get to work or school by a specific time. The discrepancy between your body’s natural sleep schedule, or circadian rhythm, and your social schedule is known as “social jetlag,” and it’s measured by the midpoint of your sleep. For example, if you sleep from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weeknights, the midpoint of your sleep is 3 a.m. If you sleep from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends, the midpoint shifts two hours later to 5 a.m.
Higher levels of social jetlag are associated with higher rates of obesity, inflammation, smoking, and alcohol use. The worse your social jetlag, the higher your likelihood of depression. For example, social jetlag of two hours, as opposed to one hour or less, is associated with higher levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), shorter weekday sleep, less physical activity, and a higher heart rate. These conditions increase your risk of developing diabetes and depression. However, even just one hour of social jetlag can have serious effects.
Is Sleeping Late on Weekends Right for You?
The best test is to pay attention to how you feel when you sleep late on weekends. Do you feel awake and alert, or do you feel groggy and grumpy? If you feel refreshed and restored after sleeping, then what you’re doing is working. If you don’t feel your best, it may be worth adjusting your weekend sleep schedule to align with your weekday schedule.
That doesn’t mean you necessarily have to forego sleep on the weekends, though. A better approach to catch up on sleep debt may be with a nice, refreshing nap. Let yourself relax with a short 20- to 30-minute nap on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, ideally between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Keeping your naps brief prevents you from feeling even groggier upon waking up. Instead, you’ll feel refreshed, and still be able to go to sleep on time that evening.
Also, consider what’s making you want to sleep late. Are you exhausted from the week, or are you staying up later on weekend nights? What else changes about your schedule on the weekends? For example, you may be drinking or eating more heavily, especially later at night. Heavy foods and alcohol can both interfere with the quality of your sleep, so you may want to sleep later to make up for it.
There are many factors which interfere with a good night’s sleep. A rotating work schedule or important project may keep us tossing and turning. Our daytime habits may hold the key to solving the nighttime blues. By consistently getting the right amount of sleep, you set yourself up with the inner strength you need to make good choices at work and personal life.
15 Simple Ways to Improve the Quality of Your Sleep
- Cut down on caffeine. Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. Caffeine also increases the need to urinate during the night.
- Stop smoking or chewing tobacco. Nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant that can cause insomnia. People who kick the habit fall asleep more quickly and wake less often during the night.
- Use alcohol sparingly. Alcohol suppresses REM sleep, a necessary phase of sleep for brain function. Alcohol is responsible for as much as 10% of chronic insomnia cases. Alcohol can worsen snoring and other nocturnal breathing problems.
- Exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day but no later than a few hours before going to bed. Regular exercise provides three important sleep benefits: you fall asleep faster, sleep more deeply, and awaken less often at night.
- Improve your sleep surroundings. Remove the television, telephone and office equipment from the bedroom. Electronic devices emit blue light that interferes with natural sleep.
- Stick to a regular schedule. People with regular sleep patterns report fewer problems with insomnia and fewer signs of depression. We have these circadian rhythms, these internal clocks that tell us when to be awake, when to be asleep, when to be hungry.
- Reduce stress. If work, relationship, financial or other concerns are keeping you awake at night, ask for help.
- Relax before bed – try a warm bath, reading or another relaxing routine like meditation.
- Don’t lie in bed awake. If you can’t get to sleep, do something else, like reading or listening to music, until you feel tired.
- Limit your news exposure. Mainline media’s mantra is “If it bleeds, it leads.”
- Wear an eye mask and earplugs to block unwanted light and noise.
- Try diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) because it helps to calm the mind.
- Cool the room: Your body temperature decreases as you sleep. Find a temperature that doesn’t make you wake up feeling too hot or cold. Experiment with a fan or light blankets to see what feels good to you.
- Use your bed for sex and sleep only: If you struggle to fall asleep in bed after 20 minutes, get out of bed and do a quiet activity. Return to your bed when you feel sleepy.
- If you find yourself drooping at midday, consider taking a power nap. Napping at work for no longer than 10 to 20 minutes can give you the alertness boost you need to perform well.
With all the benefits of proper sleep to help you communicate well with others, isn’t it worth the effort to get on a sleep routine that works for you and be at your best seven days a week?
Resources:
National Sleep Foundation – https://www.nsf.org
###
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