Most of us earn a living by being at the office from 9-5 every day. A recent study has revealed that employees shouldn't be at work earlier than 10am.
Do you love to sleep? Do you hate to get up early every morning? Do you wish you could start work a little bit later?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you now have science on your side too! According to sleep expert Paul Kelley, we're simply not getting enough ZZZs and live in what he describes as a sleep-deprived society.
As an advocate for more healthy sleeping habits, and the science to back it, he claims that employees shouldn’t be forced to start at 9am simply because it clashes with our body's natural clock.
Read: Are you burning out at work?
Reset your natural clock
Ensuring that your natural clock operates effectively by getting enough sleep is good for your mood, your overall performance and boosts productivity - which is great for your boss too. By simply sleeping a little later, you cannot possible ask for an easier solution that’ll make all employees less ill and a lot happier. Kelley says it's important to remember that we spend a third of our lives snoozing, which in itself tells us that the importance of getting enough rest cannot be stressed enough.
It is more natural for people over the age of 55 to function on a typical 9-5 day, but not so for the rest of us. Before you reach that age, Kelley found that it's better that you start up to three hours later. It all makes sense if you think about the amount of people you personally know (including your co-workers) that require an alarm to force them up every morning. Paul Kelley is adamant that we should all rather wait for our ‘natural alarm’ to wake us up.
According to the experiment that Kelley and his colleagues conducted, 14-24 year olds are the most deprived of all. The average amount of sleep loss for this age group is more than 2 hours; for 25-35 year olds, it’s about 90 minutes. That’s sad (and unhealthy) if you consider that this pattern only balances out (and becomes more natural) when you reach the age 55.
Health concerns
It has been found that sleep deprivation is linked to depression, obesity, diabetes and an impaired immune system. Look to your left and look to your right. Your fellow early-risers in the office are probably enough proof that this could quite possibly be true.
Kelley, who works at the University of Oxford’s Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, argues that most employees are sleep-deprived and it’s something that's really not necessary. He claims, “Everybody is suffering and they don’t have to.” All you need is extra time under the covers... Can you imagine how wonderful this would be in Winter?
Read: How to convince your boss to give you flexible working hours
That extra bonus
An added advantage is the effect a 10/11am clock-in time would have on your daily commute: Traffic to work would be a lot less congested since everyone that needs to get to school will already be there, similar to the free flow during school holidays. Also, well-rested drivers are more alert and Kelley even predicts that this could mean fewer accidents on our roads. All this new information and the consequent health concerns begs the question: Is working 9-5 actually productive?
To get the most out of your hours at work, follow these productivity hacks that’ll ensure you keep a balanced lifestyle or, get a new boss with one of Careers24's many vacancies.
