Your employees (and you) stand to lose more than just a good night’s sleep if they don’t mind their circadian rhythms.
This mechanism, commonly referred to as the body’s internal clock, is responsible for sleep/wake cycles. Research indicates that out-of-sync circadian rhythms are linked to increased risk of health problems such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, certain types of cancer, and a variety of mental health problems.
These potential health risks are just one of the reasons it’s so important to stress good sleep habits to your workers. There are also plenty of sound business reasons to help them straighten out their sleep cycles.
Well-rested workers are more productive and tend to perform better on the job; they’re also less prone to accidents, injuries, and costly mistakes. Good-quality sleep might also help keep them engaged and thus prevent them from burning out.
While sleep problems and unhealthy sleep “hygiene” can affect anyone, it’s particularly common among people who work odd hours. Shift work is such a common culprit of disrupted circadian rhythms that it has even earned its own sleep disorder.
And employees’ attempts to self-regulate their sleep patterns may be misguided, as evidenced by a recent study of hospital night nurses. The Vanderbilt University study found that 25% of these nurses self-imposed sleep deprivation for up to 24 hours in preparation for the night shift, which proved to be the least effective method of regulating circadian rhythm.
Your workers may be employing similar strategies, and if so, they may end up making things worse instead of better. Help them find ways to cope with shift work (or even just garden-variety sleep problems) that have the best chance of success.
Start by sharing these simple tips from the National Sleep Foundation: