NYTimes.com: THINK for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in the evenings?
12 comments:
It's not surprising at all that a study revealed that more sleep leads to more efficiency. Taking naps has always helped me to remain focused and get more work done. After taking a nap your body feels refreshed, and your brain is able to tackle tasks that it would not be able to conquer when tired. Taking the time to relax can ultimately make you more productive. The trick is to find the balance between sleep, relaxing, and working on everything that needs to get done.
This is the second article this week that has been posted about "relaxing" and "getting more sleep". I really loved reading the both of these. I am not surprised that this study showed that more sleep leads to more efficiency! Like Jess, more sleep has always helped me focus more, but naps in the middle of the day do not. Naps, unless they are about 2 hours, make me more tired and make me want to go to sleep for the night. Taking a breather or just relaxing for a moment definitely helps me be more productive.
I understand this article is trying to say more relaxation will result in more and better productivity. However, in these days, it is even harder to find time to sleep more or to have a nice lunch because the schedule is too tight. I understand sometimes, if someone is too stressful, it is better to leave the work for awhile and have a good rest, which will boost him or her later. Nonetheless, it is only possible for one or two days. If someone continues to do that, he or she will be left behind and really struggles in the end catching up more works. As I moved on to college, I definitely realize that time is the finite resource on which we've relied to get more accomplished. I always felt that I am running out of the time and there are still so much work to do. However, I think I should at least try to follow what this article tells about getting more energy by going to vacations or getting some nap when I can, so that I have more energy to work, which will result in faster and more efficient work time.
This article makes perfect sense and it seems like the practices it discusses are the natural ways in which humans are supposed to function. Our society today has created this illusion that more is better, not only in material items but in terms of putting in more hours, taking on more tasks at work, taking more classes at school, etc. And it has turned out that we now have this generation of overly-stressed, burned-out people (I'm specifically thinking of my generation of college-aged students) and I wonder with rates of depression and suicide going up and up in young people, if all this work that is meant to make us lead successful, fulfilled lives, is really making us happy at all. Personally I know I am a much happier and more productive person when I do take time off for myself and work in shorter stints. This article makes so much sense, and I think that in order for it to be more widely accepted and understood, we as a society need to start to accept that people are much happier and more productive when they give their bodies what they need instead of trying to meet these super-human standards.
This seems to be the "theme of the week," and I think it's extremely important so I'm commenting on another article devoted to the topic. I would like to tell everyone that this is possible. There are constant complaints of schedules being too tight, of there being no time to exercise and no time to sleep. I exercise most days of the week, it only takes up between 40 and 60 minutes of my time (depending on the day), I've done that for so long that I feel weird when I don't. I don't see how a lot of the DPs in this school sit down all day and work and eat and go to bed for just a few hours. I like to stand, I like to be active, I like to sleep. I sleep for 6 hours a night, which seems to be perfect for me. I am not tired during the day and don't feel like I am getting too little rest. I have distinct memories of my freshman year where my classmates would ask me how I seemed to get everything done before them. I wasn't tired because I hadn't stayed up all night with them, and was therefore more productive. They didn't get it. Guess I was onto something.
I honestly think that what each of these articles about sleep and productivity are telling us is that we should have a nap time built into our schedules. Naps are apparently very important, but every time I have a free moment I constantly feel the need to be working. If i put my head down on my desk for ten minutes, even if I know that i need it, I still feel like I'm wasting time. I feel like if there was a designated sleeping block in the middle of the day, we might actually be much happier and much more productive during the day. of course, having a nap is a bit juvenile, but then again, if it works, it works.
It's become increasingly obvious to me that I have developed a habit or caffeine/energy drink consumption, and that I generally have trouble functioning fully without that pick-me-up. Which I know is not healthy for a glaring number of reasons. However at the same time, I have trouble even when I get the "appropriate" or "recommended" amounts of sleep...I feel just as groggy, generally more so to be honest, and 90% of the time I wake up with a killer headache. So what's the answer? I'm not sure even the experts have a clear answer.
Frankly, while the articles on the blog this week seem to be pointing out the amount of sleep in relation to your productivity, I think the more important issue is remaining calm. When people become stressed out and have a great deal to do, it becomes harder to process and plan out your workload - and focus. Remaining calm will allow for you to even sleep effectively. So, therefore if you remain calm, you can plan your time and sleep.
I completely agree with this article. I love to observe people, so naturally ive been observing the people that im stuck with for the majority of my day, my classmates; and ive noticed that when people get stressed and worked up about projects they dont do as well and tend to spend more time complaining, and freaking out about something than they do on the project its self. Im not saying that i dont do this. but i definitely try and make a conscious effort to only complain for like 5 minutes and then move on and work.
I like everyone else agree with the article that sleep is very important when it comes to efficiency. I answered yes to every question in the first paragraph, I am tired all the time, and I know I should be getting more sleep. But I'm pretty scared when I sleep, because when I sleep, I'm out cold. Meaning, I will not wake up to my alarm, even if it is the most loud, annoying country song you can think of. Usually, my relaxation is getting out of the studio and going on hikes throughout Pittsburgh or just going to my Rock n Roll class. I know the article says I need more sleep, but I can guarantee you that I will never stop working. Because when I stop working, I fall asleep. And when I fall asleep, I can't wake up. So the answer: CAFFEINE!!!
I always want more sleep. I know that there are enough hours in the day to so a lot of the things that I want to do and I try to take time for myself, but I find it difficult to go to classes and work full out, and then go home and work some more. I take naps, and they help, but they can only do so much. Also the school schedule is not particularly conducive to this kind of behavior: with often continual class for multiple hours of the day it's so easy for my attention to waver. I wish I could have both the motivation to really work at home so that I get all my work done faster, but simultaneously get more sleep and be more attentive in class. In the end it's a balancing act, one that I haven't figured out particularly well yet, but I do take relaxation seriously, I think what I need more of is time management. Though it seems paradoxical to manage relaxation…
Balancing work and sleep is a challenge that I am definitely feeling right now heading into my third week of run crew and scrambling to get these comments in before noon. While it may seem strange to schedule in relaxation time, it's really helpful for ensuring that you have enough downtime to make it through the rest of the day. This year the days where I scheduled myself a set time to relax and do light work ended up allowing me to get a lot of things out of the way so that I was able to go back to the studio and do more intensive work. Anyone giving advice about college will always stress time management, and this article really emphasizes the importance of managing everything that you need to do, not just schoolwork.
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