Job Performance

Sleep Deprivation Can Impair Job Performance

Sleep disorders are linked to fatigue, mental health ailments, and other issues that can negatively impact your career.

Finding yourself a bit groggy and sluggish when your morning alarm goes off is completely normal—your body is waking up and coming out of its sleepy state. What’s not normal is when you still feel this way during your lunch break, when you can’t focus during any of your meetings, or when you find yourself needing to nap after clocking out from work every single day. Fatigue may be taking over your life—and sometimes, fatigue stems from a sleep disorder that’s keeping you from getting the restful 7-8 hours of sleep you need each night.

Sleep Deprivation’s Impact

There are a few key reasons that sleep deprivation is detrimental to your daily life—and particularly to your work performance.

Cognitive Impact: Poor sleep keeps your brain from participating in the nightly processes necessary to keep you functioning. These processes are vital for your comprehension, communication, assessment, problem-solving, learning, and emotional competency skills. All things that are necessary to being a productive and effective team member.

Physical Impact: Exhaustion also makes people more susceptible to illness and workplace accidents. A 2015 study on sleep deprivation and work performance found that sleep deprivation leads to an increase in workers taking days off. The same study also found that sleep deprivation is associated with more workplace accidents.

When sleep loss becomes chronic, long-term health conditions can develop, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. These conditions come with their own consequences for the sufferer’s personal and professional life—consequences that can be avoided or reduced by addressing sleep problems head-on.

Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation

• Constantly tired (fatigue)
• Decreased cognitive functioning
• Increase in mood changes & onset of mental health ailments such as anxiety and depression

If you’re experiencing symptoms of sleep deprivation, and/or have been notified by your managers and peers that you seem constantly exhausted, missing deadlines and that your work quality isn’t what it used to be, then it’s probably time to consult a sleep physician to help get your sleep health back on track. We can help. Get started today by scheduling your consultation.