Sleep deprivation is killing you and your career

Sleep deprivation is killing you and yur careerSleep deprivation is killing you and your careerThe next time you tell yourself that youll sleep when youre dead, realize that youre making a decision that can make that day come much sooner. Pushing late into the night is a health and productivity killer.According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly washed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraWhy You Need Adequate Sleep to PerformWeve always known that sleep is good for your brain, but research from the University of Rochester provi des the first direct evidence for why your brain cells need you to sleep (and sleep the right way- more on that later). The study found that when you sleep your brain removes toxic proteins from its neurons that are by-products of nerven betreffend activity when youre awake. Unfortunately, your brain can remove them adequately only while youre asleep. So when you dont get enough sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc by impairing your ability to think- something no amount of caffeine can fix.Skipping sleep impairs your brain function across the board. It slows your ability to process information and problem solve, kills your creativity, and catapults your stress levels and emotional reactivity.What Sleep Deprivation Does to Your HealthSleep deprivation is linked to a variety of serious health problems, including heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It stresses you out because your body overproduces the stress hormone cortisol when its sle ep deprived. While excess cortisol has a host of negative health effects that come from the havoc it wreaks on your immune system, it also makes you look older, because cortisol breaks down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic. In men specifically, not sleeping enough reduces testosterone levels and lowers sperm count.Too many studies to list have shown that people who get enough sleep live longer, healthier lives, but I understand that sometimes this isnt motivation enough. So consider this- not sleeping enough makes you fat. Sleep deprivation compromises your bodys ability to metabolize carbohydrates and control food intake. When you sleep less you eat more and have more difficulty burning the calories you consume. Sleep deprivation makes you hungrier by increasing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and makes it harder for you to get full by reducing levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin. People who sleep less than 6 hours a night are 30% mor e likely to become obese than those who sleep 7 to 9 hours a night.How Much Sleep Is Enough?Most people need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night to feel sufficiently rested. Few people are at their best with less than 7 hours, and few require more than 9 without an underlying health condition. And thats a major problem, since more than half of Americans get less than the necessary 7 hours of sleep each night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.For go-getters, its even worse.A recent survey of Inc. 500 CEOs found that half of them are sleeping less than 6 hours a night. And the problem doesnt stop at the top. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of U.S. workers get less than 6 hours of sleep each night, and sleep deprivation costs U.S. businesses more than $63 billion annually in lost productivity.Doing something about itBeyond the obvious sleep benefits of thinking clearly and staying healthy, the ability to manage your emotions and remain calm unde r pressure has a direct link to your performance. TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and weve found that 90% of top performers are high in emotional intelligence (EQ). These individuals are skilled at understanding and using emotions to their benefit, and good sleep hygiene is one of the greatest tools at their disposal.High-EQ individuals know its not just how much you sleep that matters, but also how you sleep. When life gets in the way of getting the amount of sleep you need, its absolutely essential that you increase the quality of your sleep through good sleep hygiene. There are many hidden killers of quality sleep. The 10 strategies that follow will help you identify these killers and clean up your sleep hygiene. Follow them, and youll reap the performance and health benefits that come with getting the right quantity and quality of sleep.1. Stay Away from Sleeping PillsWhen I say sleeping pills, I mean anything you take that sedates you so that you can sleep. Whether its alcohol, Nyquil, Benadryl, Valium, Ambien, or what have you, these substances greatly disrupt your brains natural sleep process. Have you ever noticed that sedatives can give you some really strange dreams? As you sleep and your brain removes harmful toxins, it cycles through an elaborate series of stages, at times shuffling through the days memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams). Sedation interferes with these cycles, altering the brains natural process.Anything that interferes with the brains natural sleep process has dire consequences for the quality of your sleep. Many of the strategies that follow eliminate factors that disrupt this recovery process. If getting off sleeping pills proves difficult, make certain you try some of the other strategies (such as cutting down on caffeine) that will make it easier for you to kiste asleep naturally and reduce your dependence upon sedatives.2. Stop Drinking Caffeine (at Least after Lunch) You can sleep more and vastly improve the quality of the sleep you get by reducing your caffeine intake. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant that interferes with sleep by increasing adrenaline production and blocking sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain. Caffeine has a 6-hour half-life, which means it takes a full 24 hours to work its way out of your system. Have a cup of joe at 8 a.m., and youll still have 25% of the caffeine in your body at 8 p.m. Anything you drink after noon will still be near 50% strength at bedtime. Any caffeine in your bloodstream- the negative effects increasing with the dose- makes it harder to fall and stay asleep.When you do finally fall asleep, the worst is yet to come. Caffeine disrupts the quality of your sleep by reducing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the deep sleep when your body recuperates most. When caffeine disrupts your sleep, you wake up the next day with a cognitive and emotional handicap. Youll be naturally inclined to grab a cup of coffee or an energy drink to try to make yourself feel more alert, which very quickly creates a vicious cycle.3. Avoid Blue Light at NightThis is a big one- most people dont even realize it impacts their sleep. Short-wavelength blue light plays an important role in your mood, energy level, and sleep quality. In the morning, sunlight contains high concentrations of this blue light. When your eyes are exposed to it directly (not through a window or while wearing sunglasses), the blue light halts production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and makes you feel more alert. This is great, and exposure to a.m. sunlight can improve your mood and energy levels. If the sun isnt an option for you, try a blue light device.In the afternoon, the suns rays lose their blue light, which allows your body to produce melatonin and start making you sleepy. By the evening, your brain does not expect any blue light exposure and is very sensitive to it. The problem this creates for sleep is that most of our f avorite evening devices- laptops, tablets, televisions, and mobile phones- emit short-wavelength blue light. And in the case of your laptop, tablet, and phone, they do so brightly and right in your face. This exposure impairs melatonin production and interferes with your ability to fall asleep as well as with the quality of your sleep once you do nod off. Remember, the sleep cycle is a daylong process for your brain. When you confuse your brain by exposing it in the evening to what it thinks is a.m. sunlight, this derails the entire process with effects that linger long after you power down. The best thing you can do is avoid these devices after dinner (television is okay for most people as long as they sit far enough away from the set). If you must use one of these devices in the evening, you can limit your exposure with a filter or protective eyewear.4. Wake Up at the Same Time Every DayConsistency is key to a good nights sleep, especially when it comes to waking up. Waking up at the saatkorn time every day improves your mood and sleep quality by regulating your circadian rhythm. When you have a consistent wake-up time, your brain acclimates to this and moves through the sleep cycle in preparation for you to feel rested and alert at your wake-up time. Roughly an hour before you wake, hormone levels increase gradually (along with your body temperature and blood pressure), causing you to become more alert. This is why youll often find yourself waking up right before your alarm goes off.When you dont wake up at the same time every day, your brain doesnt know when to complete the sleep process and when it should prepare you to be awake. Long ago, sunlight ensured a consistent wake-up time. These days, an alarm is the only way most people can pull this off, and doing this successfully requires resisting the temptation to sleep in when youre feeling tired because you know youll actually feel better by keeping your wake-up time intact.5. No Binge Sleeping (In) on t he WeekendSleeping in on the weekend is a counterproductive way to catch up on your sleep. It messes with your circadian rhythm by giving you an inconsistent wake-up time. When you wake up at the same time during the work week but sleep past this time on the weekend, you end up feeling groggy and tired because your brain hasnt prepared your body to be awake. This isnt a big deal on your day off, but it makes you less productive on Monday because it throws your cycle off and makes it hard to get going again on your regular schedule.6. Learn How Much Sleep You Really NeedThe amount of sleep you need is something that you cant control, and scientists are beginning to discover the genes that dictate it. The problem is, most people sleep much less than they really need and are under-performing because they think theyre getting enough. Some discover this the hard way. Ariana Huffington was one of those frantic types who underslept and overworked, until she collapsed unexpectedly from exha ustion one afternoon. She credits her success and well-being since then to the changes shes made to her sleep habits. I began getting 30 minutes more sleep a night, until gradually I got to 7 to 8 hours. The result has been transformational, Huffington says, adding that, all the science now demonstrates unequivocally that when we get enough sleep, everything is better our health our mental capacity and clarity our joy at life and our ability to live life without reacting to every bad thing that happens.Huffington isnt the only one. Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Sheryl Sandberg have all touted the virtues of getting enough sleep. Even Bill Gates, an infamous night owl, has affirmed the benefits of figuring out how much sleep you really need I like to get 7 hours of sleep a night because thats what I need to stay sharp and creative and upbeat. Its time to bite the bullet and start going to bed earlier until you find the magic number that enables you to perform at your best.7. Stop Wo rkingWhen you work in the evening, it puts you into a stimulated, alert state when you should be winding down and relaxing in preparation for sleep. Recent surveys show that roughly 60% of people monitor their smartphones for work emails until they go to sleep. Staying off blue light-emitting devices (discussed above) after a certain time each evening is also a great way to avoid working so you can relax and prepare for sleep, but any type of work before bed should be avoided if you want quality sleep.8. Eliminate InterruptionsUnfortunately for those with small children, the quality of your sleep does suffer when it is interrupted. The key here is to eliminate all the interruptions that are under your control. If you have loud neighbors, wear earplugs to bed. If your mother likes to call at all hours of the night, make certain you silence your ringer before you go to bed. If you had to wake up extra early in the morning, make sure your alarm clock is back on its regular time when yo u go to bed. Dont drink too much water in the evening to avoid a bathroom trip in the middle of the night. If your partner snores . . . well, you get the idea. If you think hard enough, there are lots of little things you can do to eliminate unnecessary interruptions to your sleep.9. Learn to MeditateMany people who learn to meditate report that it improves the quality of their sleep and that they can get the rest they need even if they arent able to significantly increase the number of hours they sleep. At the Stanford Medical Center, insomniacs participated in a 6-week mindfulness meditation and cognitive-behavioral therapy course. At the end of the study, participants average time to fall asleep was cut in half (from 40 to 20 minutes), and 60% of subjects no longer qualified as insomniacs. The subjects retained these gains upon follow-up a full year later. A similar study at the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that 91% of participants either reduced the amount of medication they needed to sleep or stopped taking medication entirely after a mindfulness and sleep therapy course. Give mindfulness a try. At minimum, youll fall asleep faster, as it will teach you how to relax and quiet your mind once you hit the pillow.10. When All Else Fails Take NapsOne of the biggest peaks in melatonin production happens during the 100 to 300 p.m. time frame, which explains why most people feel sleepy in the afternoon. Companies like Google and Zappos are capitalizing on this need by giving employees the opportunity to take short afternoon naps. If you arent getting enough sleep at night, youre likely going to feel an overwhelming desire to sleep in the afternoon. When this happens, youre better off taking a short nap (even as short as 15 minutes) than resorting to caffeine to keep you awake. A short nap will give you the rest you need to get through the rest of the afternoon, and youll sleep much better in the evening than if you drink caffeine or take a lon g afternoon nap.Bringing it all togetherI know many of you reading this piece are thinking something along the lines of but I know a guy (or gal) who is always up at all hours of the night working or socializing, and hes the number one performer at our branch. My answer for you is simple This guy is underperforming.We all have innate abilities that we must maximize to reach our full potential. My job is to help people do that- to help the good become great by removing unseen performance barriers. Being number one in your branch is an accomplishment, but I guarantee that this guy has his sights set on bigger things that he isnt achieving because sleep deprivation has him performing at a fraction of his full potential. You should send him this article. It just might shake something loose.After all, the only thing worth catching up on at night is your sleep.This article first appeared on LinkedIn.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers k now your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

How to Give Employees GiftsThat They Really Want

How to Give Employees gesundheitsgefhrdender stoffsThat They Really WantHow to Give Employees Gifts- That They Really WantStaff satisfaction and motivation are vital to keeping your business performing at its best. If your employees are feeling unsatisfied or unappreciated, their motivation, and subsequently their productivity, will drop. Show your staff that they are valued to boost and maintain morale. One way to demonstrate how much you appreciate and value your employees is to provide a holiday giftstoff for employees- a holiday gift that they really want. A new survey of workers by the online print company, Instantprint, illustrates how important giving a holiday gift for employees is for your business. 94 percent of respondents said a holiday gift from their employer would make them feel appreciated, valued, and happier at work. To make the most of the holiday gifts you offer your employees, you need to ensure you are giving them something that they want. Undesired gifts wont h elp boost staff morale or provide inspiration. Instantprints research has also unveiled the most popular gifts to receive from employers, as voted for by workers, to help you choose gifts for employees that they really want. Gift Cards as Gifts for Employees Gift cards came in as the most popular gifts employees could receive from their companies with almost one-third of the vote (29 percent). In addition to employee appreciation of gift cards as gifts, gift cards offer further benefits. First, they are easy for an employer to provide. Other options on this list, such as providing early time off from work, involve staff time to plan. Gift cards, however, are readily available to purchase both online and in a wide range of stores. Second, gift cards give employees the freedom to choose a gift they will really use. With gift cards now available that are valid in most major stores, giving them to your staff can help make the most of your gifts for employees. Early Finishes Durin g the Holiday Season as a Gift for Employees Coming in at a very close second to gift cards in terms of most popular holiday gifts to receive from employers is the option of an early finish. With 28.8 percent of the vote, little difference exists between the two gift options. The holiday season is about spending time with your loved ones, so its not surprising that early finishes to the workday rank so high. Getting away from work early can make all the difference when it comes to finishing your Christmas shopping or making it to the family get-together. Two ways in which you can arrange early finishes for your staff are these Allow staff to choose on which day they want to leave work early. Set up a spreadsheet, similar to one for monitoring annual leave, and ask staff to request their day to leave work early, so you can ensure you always have adequate coverage.Choose a day for the entire company to leave early, for example, Christmas Eve, when many companies close at noon. Just m ake sure you give fair warning to clients and customers that this will be the case. Provide an Open Bar at the Holiday Party as a Gift for Employees Office holiday parties and get-togethers are great events to organize for your employees. They bring your staff together outside of the workplace and help build and improve their working relationships. One in five employees says the holiday party would be better if their company offered an open bar. Providing an open bar is a way to encourage staff to attend the holiday party and helps your employees enjoy themselves. Covering the bar reiter for the entire company is costly, but you dont have to go this far at your holiday party if the cost isnt in your budget. Consider offering to cover everyones first drink instead. Or, issue a certain number of drinks tokens or coupons employees can use throughout the night. This will stop everyone from piling up to the bar and ensure that all staff has equal access to the perk. Physical Gifts for Employees One in ten employees wants to stick with the classic option for the holiday season, asking their employer to get them a physical gift. Physical gifts allow you to team build when the employees unwrap their gifts together. To achieve this, however, youll likely have to give all of your employees the same gift. This one-size-fits-all gift-giving is difficult to get right. Youll want to talk to your staff, take note of their interests and habits, and use their ideas as your inspiration. Often the classics are best when you give employees a physical holiday gift. For example, your staff is likely to use a travel cup, and the cup should last for a long time. Gifts like travel mugs and company clothing with logos add an extra benefit to your employee holiday gift as they are useful to increase your brand awareness. Charitable Donations as Gifts for Employees When your employees are having fun, celebrating this holiday season with gifts and gatherings, its important to remember those less fortunate than themselves. 7 percent of staff want their employers to help them accomplish this mission by making a donation in their anthroponym to charity. The holiday season is a difficult time of year for employees to donate, with all the financial pressures of gift-giving, festive outings, and feeding the family. Donating to worthy causes in the name of your staff can help them ramp up the feel-good factor this holiday season. If you donate this holiday season as a gift for employees, thoroughly research your chosen charity. Choose one that aligns with your company values. Local causes are also solid options as they increase your standing as a business that gives back to its community. You dont have to limit yourself to just one of these options for holiday gifts for employees. You can offer several to make the most of the holiday season for your staff. Youll boost their motivation well into the New Year.

Flexible Retirement Jobs Now Hiring

Flexible Retirement Jobs Now HiringFlexible Retirement Jobs Now HiringAfter years of juggling your career with your other obligations, interests and passions, its time to change the focus of your day-to-day and truly embrace retirement. The problem is that nothing quite prepared you for this. How do you adjust to a calm and quiet lifestyle, plus that wide open calendar, when you are accustomed to being on the go all day?You want a job that gives you the rewards of work a chance to meet new people, earn some spending money and get the satisfaction of a day spend productively. But you dont want a stressful job. Youve graduated from that. Now its time for a fun and flexible gig, like unterstellung Marina Dock Assistant Average Full Time Salary $16,000Work outside near the water facilitating the rental of boats and other marine recreational vehicles. In addition to working with the public, professionals in these jobs usually help maintain the inventory and the facilities. Marina jobs are at their busiest during the tourist seasons and on weekends and holidays. In some regions they are only available during limited times of the year.Search Marina Dock AssistantjobsGym Staff Average Full Time Salary $57,000There are a range of positions that fall under this category, from assisting members checking in for their workouts to helping to keep the facilities in tip top shape. Theres always a need for help in commercial gyms and non-profit community wellness organizations. Some niche areas may include working in the babysitting room or helping to prepare facilities for classes. These are vibrant and exciting work environments that may prove perfect for your new career. Search Gym StaffjobsLibrary AssistantAverage Full Time Salary $38,000The library is both a bustling cultural meeting place and an oasis that invites researching, reading and learning. Libraries offer a range of programs to entice infants, toddlers, teenagers, adults and older patrons. There are a host of way s to apply your skills, from working the circulation desk to reading books to children. Theres never a dull moment in the library.Search Library AssistantjobsTour Guide Average Full Time Salary $40,000Wineries, breweries, ski slopes, museums, farms and factories all need compelling speakers to keep their visitors engaged while they learn about the facilities. If you have the gift of gab and you love working with the public, this may be just the right role for you.Search Tour GuidejobsBarista Average Full Time Salary $16,000Learn the tricks to brewing all those enticing beverages that for years youve sipped with colleagues, customers and friends. Its fun to be on the other side of the counter and work a job thats fast-paced and social. Search Barista jobs