SLEEP!

One of the most important things we need is often the fist thing we are willing to sacrifice in the name of productivity, namely, sleep. You know you have said it, or at least thought, "I can sleep when I'm dead". Ironically, restriction of daily sleep requirements (either voluntarily ie. choosing to prioritise activities over sleep; or non voluntarily ie. inadvertently loosing sleep due to shift work, or caring for an ill child) to get more done in a 24 hour period actually costs the Australian Government $10.3 billion annually in lost productivity (1). Over 1.2 million Australians experience sleep disorders. In general, an occasional late night is no problem for most people, provided there is an equal amount of 'sleep-debt' repayment time to offset the deprivation incurred. However, in today's society, where we have unprecedented access to information and each other through text messaging, email and the like, coupled with a wide range of tempting after hours activities, we often find it difficult to set boundaries around our work and social lives.

The implication of sleep deprivation, both voluntary and non-voluntary, are numerous and well documented. Excessive sleepiness, difficulty with memory and concentration as well as coordination problems can arise due to insufficient sleep (2). Additionally, performance on complex tasks, and mood disturbances (as well as increasing the risk of depression (8.3% (1)) and anxiety related mental illnesses (2)) are significantly impacted by a chronic lack of sleep. Accident risk increases as sleep disorders underlie 9.1% of work-related injuries (1), and has been found that seventeen hours of wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol reading of 0.05% (1). Importantly, insufficient sleep significantly contributes to 2.9% of diabetes diagnoses (1), and can nearly double the risk of developing heart disease (3), a disease that annually kills 1 Australian every 11 minutes (4).

So the need for getting enough sleep cannot be overstated. In the next few Blooming Minds blogs, we will discuss the different types of sleep deprivation including shift work related issues, insomnias and ways to improve your sleep hygiene (the term used by clinicians to talk about your activities relating to sleep).

References

1. Fact Sheet: Interesting Facts and Statistics About Sleep www.chiropractors.asn.au

2. Australasian Sleep Association. Healthy Sleep and Sleep Disorders. www.sleep.org.au

3. Researchers say a lack of sleep doubles risk of death..... but so can too much sleep (2007) www.warwick.ac.uk

4. Data and Statistics. www.heartfoundation.org.au

Blooming Minds provides group training and individual consultancy services to assist organisations to understand the impacts of mental health problems in the workplace and to minimise the human and economic impacts of employee stress, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. We are based in Perth, Western Australia and deliver services throughout Australia and internationally.

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