Switch Off, Sleep More...Succeed?

Published:  Mar 02, 2016

 Workplace Issues       
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In a recent post I wrote about long hours, I cited research which suggests that lack of sleep is one of the major contributing factors to poor on-the-job performance. It's a pretty clear link: showing up to work without enough sleep is like showing up drunk.

While last week's post focused mostly on long hours, it didn't really address one of the major reasons why the workday never seems to end: many of us bring it home with us, and continue reading and sending out emails long past the hours where our forebears would have been soundly asleep.

The full cost of that to our sleep cycle is something that is still being studied and hotly debated by sleep specialists, but one thing seems certain: the link between increasing use of technology and poor sleeping habits.

It’s a very modern paradox: you try to improve your work performance by taking care of a few things on your phone before bed, only to find that the phone is disrupting your sleep, and your work performance.

Which brings me to the following infographic, courtesy of the folks over at Statista:

Infographic: How Often Do Americans Try To Unplug? | Statista

According to those stats, around 45% of Americans try to unplug from all technology at least once a week. And, according to the Harris poll they're taken from, one of the key things that unplugged people try to do is to—you guessed it—catch up on sleep.

So is it time to put a daily limit on your tech usage? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or on Twitter.

Read More:

Are Long Hours Good for Your Career?

Why Sleeping is Good for Your Career

Women in Tech: How to Avoid Burnout

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