Let me confess!
I am guilty of coming short on rest time?
I get 6 hours of sleep at best week nights, 8 on the week-end.
The only way I catch up is by taking a nap in the morning after the kids are off to school.
I had to question my unhealthy schedule and its consequences after reading Sleep deprivation is not a badge of honor (David, Signal vs Noise).
The Better Health Channel (government of Victoria, Australia) reviews the causes, symptoms and impact of sleep deprivation.
They offer that the main symptoms in adults are (I quote):
- Constant yawning
- The tendency to doze off when not active for a while; for example, when watching television
- Grogginess when waking in the morning
- Sleepy grogginess experienced all day long (sleep inertia)
- Poor concentration and mood changes (more irritable).
How does it affect adults performance? They highlight (I quote):
- Reduced alertness
- Shortened attention span
- Slower than normal reaction time
- Poorer judgment
- Reduced awareness of the environment and situation
- Reduced decision-making skills
- Poorer memory
- Reduced concentration
- Increased likelihood of mentally ‘stalling’ or fixating on one thought
- Increased likelihood of moodiness and bad temper
- Reduced work efficiency
- Loss of motivation
- Errors of omission (making a mistake by forgetting to do something)
- Errors of commission (making a mistake by doing something, but choosing the wrong option)
- Microsleep (brief periods of involuntary sleeping that range from a few seconds to a few minutes in duration).
If there are no positives, why do we keep doing it?
In my case, a positive move would be to end my work day earlier or get up later or both.
Instead I am currently working more days and only aggravating the problem.
Time for a change!
Are you sleep deprived too?
Related: ‘The Secret Language of Sleep’, a book, puts meaning in our sleeping habits