Re: Sleep importance and focus
Impactnow,
"I know I couldn't say I am coming in late because my child was sick and I got no sleep it's not part of our culture in the US."
That's exactly the problem. Sleep is part of your health and if it's not respected by the culture and society there is little an individual can do. Sleep deprivation is linked to medical issues and to work and study performance. The more sleep you get the better you will perform in both school and work.
The good thing is that little by little researchers are paying more attention to these topics and thanks to the Internet more people are becoming aware of the damage they cause to their general health by not getting enough sleep, or not taking breaks at work.
A BBC documentary I watched recently explained how people abuse their bodies and system in general since an early age, thanks to what you mentioned: culture. The documentary analyzed the life of an individual since she was born until she was 80. Life expectancy will improve and prolong if society starts to paying more attention and caring more for keeping the body and mind healthier for longer, but also starting since before it's too late when the damage has been done. This means, for example, having healthy eating/sleeping habits since childhood instead of changing habits when finally a doctor tell you that your health is at risk.
As you are mother, you may be interested in reading why Finland is ranked the number one place in the world to be a parent. We can't send links here as a way of avoiding spammers, but try this on Google: Title of the article on inhabitots dot com: Finland's Family Benefits Prove Why It's Ranked The Number One Place in The World to Be a Parent.
I was very surprised to read the following: "Paid parental leave has been available as a legal right and/or governmental program for many years, in one form or another, in most countries – with the exceptions of the United States of America, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and Liberia.The United States is the only high income country not to provide such leave."
All the above takes us back to the topic discussed here about employee fatigue, and what to do to help the cause. So, as long as the US doesn't change some basic things in its culture the problem with employee fatigue leading to underperformance at work, especially in parents with young children who can't get enough sleep. Once again, we have a bigger, deeper problem here.
-Susan
User Rank: Author
9/18/2014 | 2:59:54 AM
Five minutes with friends on FB before making a major workplace decision could make all the difference..."
I don't know if FB is still banned from most companies if now FB is used for business as well. I always believed that banning FB from the the workplace is like saying to the employees that you don't trust that they are responsible enough to get into FB for a a few minutes only as a way of distraction during a coffee break, for example. If this responsibility would be taught at school instead of banning the same things to students maybe when those students grow up and go to work they are more responsible and companies wouldn't need to ban anything. Everyone would know how to behave.
I believe taking a few minutes with friends of FB, or spending those minutes elsewhere online during a coffee brake can be beneficial as a way of resting the mind from fatigue. After those minutes, the brain is ready to finish any task with more efficiency.
-SusanF