Are you an early riser or a night owl. Do you find yourself staying up late at night in an attempt to check off everything on your to-do list? How do you feel in the morning? Raise your hand if you wake up in the morning feeling groggy, cranky and just can’t seem to get through your day in a productive way. If this is you, I used to be in your shoes. I used to think I was just as effective getting 3-5 hours of sleep as I was when I got 7-8 hours. In fact, I used to gloat about how little time I needed to sleep and still manage to function throughout the day. But was I really functioning at peak performance? Nope, not at all. It wasn’t until recently that I realized the connection between sleep and productivity. 

Getting the proper amount of sleep each night will help you to be more alert and productive each day. Trust me. As someone who hates mornings, I will tell you once I made a shift in my sleeping habits I woke up in a much better mood and ready for the day. It was such a noticeable change that my husband even commented on how different I was in the morning.  

Ready for positive changes in your day, check out these 5 ways getting more sleep can improve your performance.

5 Ways Sleep Can Increase Your Productivity

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Faster Recovery from Distractions 

When you are sleep deprived, feeling groggy, feeling sluggish, it is much more difficult to refocus on a task after a disruption. Imagine being interrupted by loud music or shouting from the street, you leave your task to investigate. Coming back and refocusing on that task might be a bit hard right? If you are sleep deprived, it probably takes even more time to refocus your attention, and even then you are most likely not truly focused and alert. However, when you are rested and alert, you can easily return to what you were doing and focus on the work that needs to be done.

 

Prevent Burnout

Lack of sleep, usually less than six hours each night for the average adult, is one of the best predictors of job burnout. If you are forcing yourself to work each day on less sleep than you need to be at your best, it will catch up to you in the form of physical, emotional or mental exhaustion and soon you will doubt your competence and the value of your work. However, when you do get an optimal amount of sleep each night, you will increase your confidence in your ability to do good work because you will consistently produce work that you are proud of.

 

Make Better Decisions

When you have slept well, you improve your ability to make accurate and fast decisions by around 4%. This may not sound like much, but every little bit helps!  If you continue to sleep well and make better decisions, you cut fewer corners, and as a result, you will produce work you know is your best. 

 

Your Memory Will Improve

You know those moments where you can’t really remember that one important thing you needed to do? Yeah, that memory loss just might be connected to your lack of sleep. 

Over more than a century of research has established the fact that sleep is a factor in memory. Sleep actually triggers changes in the brain that solidify memories—strengthening connections between brain cells and transferring information from one brain region to another. 

This means that getting enough rest is key to retaining what you have learned during the day. It also means that you are better able to process what you have learned, resulting in better recall and the ability to use what you learned during the days ahead.

 

You Will Make Fewer Mistakes 

Have you ever driven drowsy and almost missed a stop sign…or perhaps you actually missed that stop sign? Lack of sleep decreases your response time and causes you to respond slower to disruptions. This means you cannot process outside distractions well enough to avoid injury or avoid making mistakes. By getting enough rest your brain will be more prepared to react and you will be less likely to make mistakes.

 

Final Thoughts

In order to get the proper amount of sleep here are a few things I do to set myself up for success:

• Set a nighttime routine
• Set a morning routine
• Make a point not to hit snooze 3 or 4 or 5 times (this one is important)
• Go out and be active during the day

This leads to:

• Feeling more rested
• Better health
• Better mood
• Increase in memory

Overall, it increases my productivity. When I wake up energized, I am able to get so much more done in a shorter time. 

How many hours of sleep do you get a night? Is it enough? Do you find you wake up energized or groggy? Making a few simple changes could help you feel better and increase your productivity.
Let me know in the comments how your sleep routine is doing!

 

 

In need of a morning routine change, check out my 7-day makeover your morning challenge! I am sure you will see amazing results.