We heard this week that France was considering a ban on work emails when you’re not at work. And they might be on to something . . . because working late and not sleeping enough can make you terrible at your job.
Here are five reasons less sleep is bad for you . . .
- It raises your stress levels. High stress levels can lead to insomnia and sleep disturbances, and bad sleep can contribute to greater levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body. It’s a vicious cycle.
- You struggle with learning and memory. The amount of sleep you get has a big impact on your ability to learn and remember things. When you haven’t slept, your ability to learn new things can drop by up to 40%.
- You’re more likely to make bad decisions. When you’re sleep deprived, you’re much more likely to make bad decisions and exercise poor judgment . . . which could end up costing more time and energy to correct.
- You can’t focus. Scientists found that sleep and attention both come from a common brain function . . . and if you don’t get enough sleep, it’s harder to pay attention during the day.
- It interferes with creativity. Lack of sleep lowers activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area responsible for high-level thinking, self-control, and creativity. (Huffington Post)
Comments