Brian Honigman is a marketing consultant, speaker and freelance writer. This post originally appeared on the blog SumAll.
In a pair of recent studies, the CDC called attention to two alarming trends. Americans do not get enough exercise and close down the majority of many small hours of the recommended amount of sleep. Not only is this bad for our health, it affects our productivity.
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Americans work longer hours than workers in most other countries, but it seems that if we do it by sacrificing our time for exercise and sleep. Unsurprisingly, the work we do all tired and unhealthy is not very productive.
An hour spent working instead of sleeping or exercise are not yet compromised. The secret to being as productive as possible is striking the right balance between taking care of ourselves, while maximizing the time we spend at work at peak productivity.
However, this is easier said than done. With such busy schedules and many distractions, it may be just too difficult to keep track of how much sleep and exercise we get and how much we need. Fortunately, there are a host of tools that make it incredibly well.
Four examples of tangible gains in productivity that fitness apps like Fitbit can help you achieve.
Work up a good amount of exercise to avoid low productivity
Studies show rarely or no exercise correlates to 50 percent risk of low productivity. The lesson here is that simply start even the slightest exercise regiment can immediately lead to increased productivity.
Unfortunately, many people do not have the proper fitness habits in place, and these habits can be difficult to start. fitness applications such as Excel Fitbit pushing gently users in healthy routines. For many who have not exercised in a long time, regular reminders and instant information about small improvements can work wonders to beat the motivation.
When you first start on the path of the form, it can be very easy to get discouraged. Making apparent gains in real time can help maintain a baseline exercise and help you stay motivated in the process. After committing to an exercise regime with the help of Fitbit, it can quickly start increasing your productivity and that itself provide additional motivation.
Maintaining an active lifestyle to increase productivity
In a fascinating section of Georgetown University, the authors discuss the many ways that an active lifestyle can benefit from the productivity. A surprising thing was the paper noted that, seeing all these benefits required only two hours and 30 minutes of exercise per week (a little more than 20 minutes per day).
This may not seem like much, but one of the key challenges to achieving these productivity gains is to stick to this diet. To see the boost of productivity discussed, consistency is key.
For many, it might not be hard to get up and exercise, but it can be very difficult to find the time to do it every day.
A major advantage of fitness trackers like Fitbit is that they will never forget or lose track of time. If you program your Fitbit to remember your commitment to 20 minutes of activity every day, it will be much harder for you to forget. In addition, some applications might even make you feel a little guilty "just skip a day."
Seeing the empty space on the progress chart your fitness app or the flashing light on your Fitbit can serve as motivation as subtle but powerful. Not only reminders like this help keep you in line with your active lifestyle, they will also help cement the winnings in your overall productivity.
Get enough sleep to focus
As important as regular exercise is to boost productivity, all winnings can be offset if you do not pay equal attention to getting enough sleep. A study by Brigham Boston Women's Hospital showed that sleep deprivation significantly hampers productivity and only worsens as time passes.
These results do not seem shocking until you realize that the definition of "sleep deprivation" The researchers used was only getting six hours a night. This means that almost 40 percent of Americans are chronically sleep deprived. one thing these studies seem to show that we severely underestimate the amount of sleep we need to perform at our optimum level.
one benefit applications and fitness trackers is that many also double as the sleep trackers. Armed with a Fitbit and knowledge than the recommended amount of sleep is eight hours per night, you can program this requirement much like you program a regiment year. the access to such personal data will help provide a clear picture of your current sleep habits and how they are to the ideal.
this is particularly useful, because the development of habits adequate sleep takes time and is very dependent on repetition. Almost all of us know how even a night of deviation from our regular sleep schedule can get rid of all of our cycle.
As already mentioned, the subtle reminders and motivation Fitbit and other fitness trackers provide can be invaluable when it comes to sticking to predetermined targets that require consistency.
In addition, these two distinct patterns can complement each other. A generally recommended remedy for poor sleep habits or trouble sleeping is a regular daily exercise. In this case, fitness trackers can help facilitate a positive feedback cycle that will allow these habits become ingrained and further increase productivity.
Overall well-being and the effects in the workplace
Although sleep and regular exercise can lead to improvements in many measurable ways, the sum total all of these habits can lead to many benefits but very important intangible.
Most studies that measure the effects of sleeping productivity and generally exercise judgment based on individualized tasks such as pattern recognition and recall, but the modern workplace tends to require more workers than simple individual tasks. Perhaps the most important indicator of workplace success is the degree of cooperation between employees.
This shows that well-trained employees are more likely to work as team players and less likely to lose their anger with each other.
Conversely, a study that asked students to complete a task-oriented while sleep-deprived team found they were more likely to report being frustrated by another that the control group.
While fitness trackers like Fitbit can never directly cause a person to adopt a healthier approach to sleep and exercise, they can make it much easier for those who decide they want.
Given the dramatic way to a good sleep and the effect exercise can have on workplace productivity both at the individual and team, encouraging these healthy behaviors should be much higher priority than they currently are.
Instead of requiring nights later, and trying to boost morale and cooperation with fancy workshops and retreats, perhaps managers should simply give the team the week leave and buy Fitbits instead.
How does your company encourage employees to stay productive throughout the workday? Do you think devices like the FitBit can help impact the wellbeing of your team? Share your experiences below.
The best sleep habits to improve your productivity