It Only Takes 16 Minutes of Lost Sleep to Affect Your Productivity

It’s already been established that sleep debt also greatly affects people’s job performance. Without ample zzz’s, you won’t have enough energy and focus to do your work at your full capacity.

But did you know that it only takes 16 minutes of lost sleep for you to experience loss in productivity? According to research, adults who sleep 16 minutes less than the usual length of their nightly slumber can already feel the impact of the discrepancy in their work.

The main effect of the said sleep loss is increased stress levels which can already affect your work performance in various ways. The amount of lost sleep may not seem significant but as it turns out, it can already constitute a poor sleep night that can lead to negative emotions the next day. It can also cause you to get more easily distracted which is a major enemy of productivity.

With Labor Day coming up, it’s the best time to take a closer look with our work-sleep balance. If you want to continue to be the productive and efficient employee that you are, you might want to work on your zzz’s, too, in order to ensure that you get enough sleep all the time.

5 Easy Tips to Help You Sleep Through This Hot Summer

After recording the highest heat index in the country a few days ago at 51.7ºC, it shouldn’t be too surprising that even our nights can get blisteringly hot. This can cause sleeplessness as it’s really hard to sleep when you’re sweaty and uncomfortable.

So how do you sleep when it’s just too hot? We’ve talked about some great tricks before so we won’t repeat the same things again. In this article, we’d focus on the tricks you can do to relieve yourself from the heat and help you go back to dreamland in case the heat disrupts your zzz’s.

1. Fill a small spray bottle with chilled water and keep it on your bedstand. You can then spray your face with the cool water when you wake up feeling too hot.

2. Grab an ice pack and dab it on the cooling points of your body (ankles, knees, wrists,  elbows, neck, and groin). This will help bring your temperature down. You can also place it on your feet when it’s too hot.

3. If you’re sleeping on an upper floor of the house, you can move downstairs to get better zzz’s. Hot air moves up so upper floors of your home will be hotter than the lower ones. Relocate if you can if it gets unbearably hot.

4. Rub a menthol stick on your forehead to help you cool down. The scent can be relaxing, too.

5. Place a cooling patch or a cooled or damp piece of cloth on your forehead like you do when you have a fever. While it’s not the most comfortable thing to do, it’s effective in lowering body temperatures.

Why the Holidays are the Best Time to Get Better Zzz’s

With the Holy Week coming up, most of us will have some free time to spend on reflection, family, and other things. As this season is also one of the longest days off most of us get, it’s also one of the best times to work on your zzz’s.

This is particularly true if you’re not going anywhere during the four-day holiday. You can definitely re-calibrate your sleep schedule so you’ll be better rested and by the time you’re back at work.

Why should you spend these lovely days off getting better sleep, you might ask? Here are a few reasons that should convince you to work on your sleep on these holidays:

1. Holidays often leave you worry-free which means you can sleep more easily.

Unlike other holidays, the Holy Week doesn’t always come with a lot of responsibilities for many of us, so sleep might just come more easily for you. Since stress is the number one thing that keeps people from getting quality zzz’s, having a break from work and school might just do the trick in resetting your sleep schedule.

2. You have at least 4 days to adjust your sleeping schedule.

It takes time to re-calibrate your sleep cycle so the 4 free days can give you enough to reset your bedtime schedule.

3. You’re supposed to relax anyway.

Most people use the time off given by this holiday season to relax, so why not take it to the next level and improve your zzz’s while at it.

 

In short, we encourage you to spend the holidays working on improving your zzz’s. It might be a challenging task it’s definitely worth the effort.

Bedtime Snacks can be Your Alternative to Sleeping Pills

Lots of us know just how sleeping pills can be detrimental to our health. This is why finding more natural ways to doze off is necessary.

If you think you need something extra to keep you from tossing and turning in bed every night, you don’t really have to look far. Your kitchen might already have the stuff you need to get better zzz’s.

We have already talked about this before but it bears repeating: what you drink and eat can affect your zzz’s. Caffeine, for example, stimulates your body which helps it stay alert and awake. Does it have a counterpart, however, if you want to induce sleep instead?

It turns out there is. According to experts, food that is rich in carbohydrates triggers the release of serotonin which is the hormone that helps you fall asleep. Warm liquids are also ideal as they help soothe and relax you. Eating foods that are rich in magnesium is also ideal as they can help boost the production of melatonin.

However, carbs aren’t exactly the stuff you want to munch on if you’re trying to lose weight. So you might want to stick with magnesium-rich items instead.

If you love bedtime snacks but you also want to improve your zzz’s, here are a few things that you can snack on instead to hit two birds with one stone:

• Pistachios
• Prunes
• Sweet Potatoes
• String Cheese
• Almonds
• Turkey
• Bananas
• Dark Chocolate
• Hummus

Will Anti-Energy Drinks Help You Fall Asleep?

If you’ve been keeping up with the latest sleep trends, you’ll know that there’s always something different that happens in the field of zzz’s. This is why the rise of the anti-energy drinks is something that shouldn’t really come as a surprise. While it’s not exactly something even those who are well-versed in these trends expected, come to think of it, it’s just a matter of time for these drinks to take the spotlight.

With energy drinks helping people stay awake, why not use the same concept to help you catch some zzz’s, right? This is where anti-energy drinks come in. They’re formulated to help induce relaxation so you can fall asleep more easily.

You can look at them as safer alternatives to sleeping pills since they don’t contain the same chemicals that are meant to trigger certain brain functions or cause side effects. Most products only contain natural and proven-safe ingredients like melatonin, magnesium, Vitamin B6, GABA, and L-Theanine so they’re generally milder in formulation than their prescription drug counterparts.

They’re usually made up of herbal ingredients to help them achieve a soothing and calming effect that can help induce sleep. This also helps ensure that they’re not bad for you since they don’t contain artificial components and chemicals.

The idea behind these products is not to knock you out at night but to help ease you to sleep. It might not be a natural method of falling asleep but it can be the nearest thing to it that you can do if you’re having a hard time falling asleep.

In the US, more and more anti-energy drinks are popping up. In our part of the planet, however, there are only a couple of brands available. You can find them online mostly, so they’re not that hard to get hold of.

To make the most of these products, drink a can 30 minutes before bedtime then ease yourself to your bedtime routine.

Should you give these products a try?

Based on the reviews that we’ve read, these products do seem promising. They’re a bit similar to many sleep supplements so they’re not as dangerous as sleeping pills can be.

However, the jury is still out for this product. Due to its newness, research on its effectiveness hasn’t been done that much yet. So if you’re interested in this product, it’s best not to keep this in mind.

If you’ll ask us, falling asleep naturally is still the best method to get quality zzz’s. The process can be complicated but it’s not impossible to learn.