Focusing on Business and Sleep

When the calendar turns to December, most of us start spending a lot of time talking about the year-end holidays and even New Year’s resolutions.  The business media, however, has picked the last few days to talk about sleep … specifically how the lack thereof can harm your career.

On December 1, Forbes published an article that was ominously titled Sleep Deprivation Is Killing You and Your Career.  It wisely pointed out that pushing your work hours later and later in the evening is actually a health and productivity killer.

On December 2, Entrepreneur published its 3 Keys to Getting Better, More Restful Sleep.  The tips, exercise and eat better, avoid light and noise at night, and avoid drinking alcohol before bed, are very solid commonsense sleep tips for everyone.

Just a few days ago, on November 29, TheNextWeb, a tech business website, published The best sleeping habits to enhance your productivity.  The tips, which were all quite sensible, ranged from controlling the use of caffeine to avoiding over-the-counter medications.

So, why the focus on sleep and business?  We’re not sure why all of these articles are hitting at the same time, but we’re very pleased to see it.  We’ve said many times that staying up late to complete a project or to prepare for a presentation may be the worst possible way to get work done properly.  Additionally, working late and missing sleep on a regular basis is a great way to damage your health.  Lack of sleep can lead to memory issues, illness and infection, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and chronic pain.  Aside from those very serious side-effects, it can make you grumpy and hard to deal with.  Add that all together, and it doesn’t sound like a recipe for success in business.