weSleep is Sleep Unlimited’s organisational services division, working within businesses, health & social care and third sector organisations. We provide training, sleep assessment & treatment for employees and consultation services.
We all know how it feels to come to work after a night or two of poor sleep. We can feel tired, anxious, we may be less patient and more irritable or begin to feel depressed. For many of us normality returns after a good night’s sleep and we feel ‘back to our old selves’. However, for an increasing number of people, sleep problems and insomnia have become a chronic issue and as most of us spend a great deal of our time at work, the consequences for employees, employers and society in general, are substantial.
Employees who regularly experience poor sleep can suffer a range of negative consequences including:
- Poor attention and concentration
- Slower reaction time
- Fluctuations in mood
- Poor decision-making
- Memory difficulties
- Problems with relationships
- Compromised physical and psychological wellbeing
The personal, social and financial consequences of insomnia and sleep problems are serious. From mild discomfort, to billions of lost working hours (and so money), and huge industrial accidents with major consequences to people, economies and the environment.
The smaller, subtler impact of mild to moderate tiredness and fatigue on the population is much more difficult to measure, but estimates are massive. In the
US, where there have been detailed investigations conducted into the cost of insomnia on society, studies indicate direct cost-estimates of $14 billion annually, rising to $100 billion for indirect costs (including workrelated accidents and lost productivity). These were estimates from early in this second millennium (Sivertsen & Nordhus, 2007).
A common influence on poor sleep, but experienced by many people, is the impact of shift-work. Shiftworking is implicated in the reduced quality of life and the increased morbidity and mortality of this group.
Many organisations are behind the curve in respect to their shift-working employees and in understanding the impact of poor sleep generally. However there are ways to tackle insomnia and sleep problems, and organisations can help to promote a happier, healthier workforce who make better decisions, communicate more effectively, build, and lead stronger and more resilient teams.
