It’s this time of the year where we all adjust our clocks an hour forward for springtime’s Daylight Savings Time. The first week of this time adjustment is the hardest for anyone who is already sleep deprived.
That 60-minutes may seem just like an hour or a number – but it can make for a chaotic recipe for sleep deprivation and reduction of productivity of any working American.
How does Sleep Deprivation affect your Productivity?
Lose Focus. Your mind is unable to focus its attention to one task and would find itself going in a numb phase when you’re sleep deprived. Other than drunk driving, driving sleep-deprived is one of the leading causes of driving accidents today.
Forgetfulness. Since your mind cannot focus on the task at hand, there are numerable times that you’ll start forgetting small things while at work and in school. Because you are in a groggy-state-of-mind, there is an increase chance of neglecting more than one responsibility while at work or school.
You get Sick Easily. Sleep deprived people also have really weak immune system. Sleeping is also one way our body defends itself from pollution, bacteria and free radicals floating around the air that will find an easy way in, when your immune system is weak. Sleep is also a form of vitamin against sickness, illnesses and even diseases.
Low Quality Work. The bottom line when working in a zombie-like state shows itself unrelentingly in the quality of work we do. In this case, how really low ones work quality turns out when sleep deprived. This can prove quite costy in terms of production and project output – and can hurt sales and profit; when you’re talking about business. An extremely less stellar grade when working through a thesis like a zombie can hurt your GPA when you graduate.
How to Help your Body Fight Against Sleep Deprivation?
All of us are still adjusting our body clocks to the tune of the one hour adjustment of the implemented Daylight savings time. If you were not able to adjust beforehand, here are ways on how to cope up and step up your body clock to be attuned with the new time.
Go to REALLY Bed Early. Sounds simple, but it is hard to do. Do your bedtime ritual an hour in advance, take your time to help you relax and wind down before you hit your bed. Making it easier for you to sleep.
No Gadgets or TV in the bedroom. Having a television or your laptop right at your fingertips can be an easy temptation that will get you to stay up late. If possible, remove any form of technological entertainment, except perhaps for your music system to help lull you to sleep.
Exercise in the Morning. Get your adrenalin pumping by doing 30-minutes of exercise in the morning or at lunchtime. Exercising will wake invigorate your body and your mind. Try not to exercise two to four hours before bedtime, or you will have difficulty sleeping.
Let the Sunlight Shine in. Studies show that morning light also triggers your bodies body clock to wake up. When you walk outdoors in the morning preferably. It helps resets your body to be in tune early in the day.
Set an Alarm. Gradually increase the time in your alarm clock to 15 to 20 minutes before the intended time that you would need to wake up. Fight the temptation to sleep-in. And stop relying on that snooze button!
Easy on the Coffee. Or any caffeinated drink for that matter. Using caffeine to push you to stay awake will backfire and will offer only a temporary jolt of wakefulness. The key here is to get your system in rhythm with the daylight savings time adjustment.
Establish a Routine. Getting your body used to sleeping at a certain hour every night and waking up the same time every morning will help you get back that much needed sleep that you need.
Pop a Melatonin. If all else fails and you find yourself tossing and turning at night. Try taking a small amount of Melatonin. Melatonin is a natural supplement that helps you settle in to sleep within 30 minutes of taking it. But don’t make it a habit, as it may make you immune to its effect.
Sleeping in a little bit during the weekends is one way of helping you help gain back some lose sleep. However, if it’s possible to keep to a routine schedule of sleep time even on weekends are best – especially in this time of adjustment to the Daylight Savings Time.
