Sleep Solutions

Sleep & Work

Sleep and work are tied together, there's no getting around it. If you are working too much and not sleeping enough your work suffers. Getting better sleep is the only answer for feeling better while you're at work, and sleeping at work is generally not the best idea if you want to keep your job. When you're not getting enough sleep and working too much is your normal routine, you can actually make poor decisions just from not sleeping enough. The sleep deprivation your body experiences affects how you think and your reaction time, both of which may be very important in your day to day working life.

There are many causes for not sleeping enough when it comes to your job. Perhaps you are working too much and sleeping is a luxury you cannot afford, because the overtime is what pays your bills. Or is it your overnight shift hours of work that are making you feel fatigued and tired all the time? If you feel like you might have a shift work sleep disorder and you cannot change the hours you work, you need to take some steps to ensure that the way working affects sleeping for you isn't going to get you into a state of worn-out, achy unhappiness from not being able to get the rest you need.

When you are balancing working and sleeping the first thing to do is take a look at where you sleep and what time you sleep. If you are sleeping during the day and working at night, it is imperative you make your bedroom as dark as possible. Your body reads light as "awake time" so you need to make it dark so your body is willing to fall asleep and stay asleep in a natural, uninterrupted way. Next, make sure you are getting enough sleep to feel rested after you wake up. If this means you need to go to bed earlier, then go to bed earlier. Schedule your errands or other chores on your day off. Last, don't try to catch up on sleep during your days off, it's not possible to catch up on sleep and oversleeping on your day off can make your sleep deprivation problem worse, not better.

Following these tips can give you a better night's sleep and allow you to get through work taking care of tasks as they come instead of dreading how much longer you have to be at work. If you still find you cannot improve your sleeping conditions, perhaps it is time to look for a different job. Your sleep, and your health, are important and you work so you can get a paycheck, not so you can become unhealthy and sleep deprived.