It’s Okay. Go Back to Bed

Sometimes science catches up. We have all known that we would be better off if only we could get a couple of hours more shut-eye. Now science has confirmed it. Researchers from the Harvard Medical School have found out that not only is getting too little sleep bad for us, but it hurts the bottom line as well. According to the Wall Street Journal business, particularly big business like Proctor and Gamble Co. and uber investment bankers Goldman Sachs Group are taking this problem very seriously.

How seriously? Well for starters they are investing big bucks in slumber training courses and providing melatonin-regulating lights to their employees so that they can get the best possible sleep possible. Proctor and Gamble is working with a sleep expert to create a pilot project that is going to work with shift workers, including some at a plant in Belleville, Ontario to help them get better rest, and the company hopes, to be more productive.

The reason for all this attention to a good night’s sleep is that these companies have found that it is directly affecting productivity in their operations. The Harvard study is just a confirmation of what people already knew: if you are tired you work less efficiently, become easily distracted and are more likely to both work unsafely and make mistakes. And we are talking big bucks here! The Harvard researchers pegged the cost of sleep deprivation at $63 billion a year in the United States every single year.

So the next time you hear that incessant ringing in the morning don’t jump out of bed. Just roll over and catch a bit more sack time. And if your boss asks you why you’re late just tell him that you are trying to improve production on the line.

Mike Martin is a freelance writer and workplace wellness consultant and the author of Change the Things You Can: Dealing with Difficult People.

He is also the author of The Walker on the Cape, a Sgt. Windflower mystery.

www.walkeronthecape.com