Sleep is not only a personal matter, but also a workplace one. Research shows that lack of sleep can impair cognitive functions, such as attention, memory and decision making, and lead to lower productivity, creativity, and performance at work. Moreover, poor sleep can increase the risk of errors, accidents, absenteeism, and burnout, and negatively affect employee health and wellbeing. Therefore, promoting good sleep habits among employees can benefit both individuals and organisations in terms of health, safety, welbeing and efficiency.
So, what can you suggest for employees? Many of us struggle to get enough quality sleep every night for a variety of reasons. Fortunately, there are some simple and effective ways you can share with your workforce to improve sleep to support better overall wellbeing and productivity. Here are some top tips for sleep as recommended by our own sleep practitioners.
Embrace routine.
Maintaining a similar sleep routine throughout the whole week, including weekends, holidays and days off can have a significant impact on how tired we feel. By keeping consistent sleep and wake times, it helps to synchronise the body’s internal clock and optimise the quality of sleep. Meaning that ensuring a regular work routine can be positive for the workforce.
Get out in the daylight.
Natural daylight controls the production of melatonin, a hormone responsible for sleepiness. Melatonin levels begin to rise naturally when outdoors during the day, and as the sky becomes darker, this signals the release of melatonin. Starting the day by spending some time outdoors is a good way to support this natural process. The workplace commute has much more of a benefit than you may think!
Keep moving.
Engaging in regular, physical exercise not only leads to a more restful sleep but also combats insomnia and daytime fatigue. Supporting your employees to find the right time to exercise during the day and being flexible about these arrangements can make a huge difference. Exercise and physical activity release cortisol (the stress hormone), and while this is beneficial in certain ways, it can cause issues with sleep. Exercising later in the evening when cortisol levels are supposed to be on the decline can keep levels raised and interrupt sleep. Again, supporting employees to find the time during the day to exercise can have benefits for your employees’ health and wellbeing. It might be a case of simply making sure there are showering facilities at your workplace or offering employee discounts for local health facilities.
Mind your evening intake.
Not one that you can really help your employees with, but you can raise awareness and encourage them to think about how what they’re eating and drinking could have an impact. Avoiding alcohol and sugary drinks in the evening is a small change that can be made, as they can disrupt sleep cycles. Refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, bread and chocolate can also trigger wakefulness and hinder deep stages of sleep.
Quiet and calm.
Again, it’s difficult to influence from an employer standpoint, but noise disturbance can hinder falling asleep and disrupt sleep. It’s very difficult to control environmental noise, but suggesting white noise apps, calming music or earplugs to counteract unwanted sounds can help.
These are some of the ways that you can support your employees to improve sleep quality and enjoy the benefits of better health, wellbeing and productivity. Sleep is not a luxury, but a necessity for our physical and mental functioning. By promoting good sleep habits and supporting your employees to get enough rest, you can create a happier, healthier and more productive workplace.
Want to find out more about how we can support your workforce’s health and wellbeing? Get in touch on 020 8649 8006 or email us at info@hcml.co.uk.