The Importance of Sleep
The Importance of sleep is recognised alongside good nutrition and exercise as a key pillar of good health. A lack of sleep can have a major impact on;
- Mood
- Concentration
- Memory
- General quality of life.
Growing research is showing that there are many links with other serious health problems, including;
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Strokes
- Heart disease
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) also has a detrimental impact on the workplace, including;
- Lost productivity (due to the impact on absenteeism and presenteeism).
- Increased chance of accidents in the workplace, on the road, and at home.
The detrimental fiscal impact on society is therefore extremely high in terms of extra strain on the national health services (NHS), erosion of worker value, and perhaps most importantly the very tangible increase risk of mortality of the individual and/ or their victim where OSA contributes to work and road incidents. The media is littered with stories of people kills by drivers who have fallen asleep at the wheel.
Absenteeism – an employee’s intentional or habitual absence from work. While employers expect workers to miss a certain number of workdays each year, excessive absences can equate to decreased productivity and can have a major effect on company finances, morale and other factors.
Presenteeism – a loss of workplace productivity resulting from employee health problems and/or personal issues. Even though the employee is physically present at work because they are experiencing problems such as arthritis, allergies, family illness, or stress, they are unable to fully perform their work duties and are more likely to make mistakes in the work they do perform.
