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Dreaming of More Creative, Productive Employees? Let Them Sleep In

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“How did you sleep last night?”

We often ask our family members and house guests this question over breakfast. But should business leaders be just as concerned about how well—and how much—their employees are sleeping?

Research into the science of sleep has proven what most people figure out through life experience: When we don’t get enough shuteye, we’re not our best selves. We aren’t as alert, focused, or creative as we are after a restful night. Instead, we’re crankier, more impatient, and less enthusiastic—about both life and work.

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Sleep Scientists Want Your Workdays to Start Later

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A team of sleep scientists have an idea and I think we'd better hear them out: One way to ensure that adults get more sleep could be to focus on "delaying the morning start time of work," or at least making it more flexible. 10 a.m. seems reasonable, offers a paper published online this week in the journal SLEEP.

After analyzing results from 124,517 American adults on their sleep and work habits, as recorded in the American Time Use Surveys from 2003 to 2011, lead study author Dr. Mathias Basner of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues found an (unsurprising) association between earlier starting times for work or school and less time spent sleeping. "Results show that with every hour that work or educational training started later in the morning, sleep time increased by approximately 20 minutes," explains the press release. "Respondents slept an average of only 6 hours when starting work before or at 6 a.m. and 7:29 hours when starting work between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m."

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9 Science-Backed Reasons Why You Should Go to Bed Early

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Show of hands if you've ever stayed up way too late texting with friends, catching up on TV shows, or scrolling aimlessly through Pinterest or Reddit. Yep, plenty of us are guilty as charged -- and as a result, we end up feeling exhausted in the morning.

That most Americans are falling short on getting the recommended eight hours of sleep per night is nothing new. Clearly though, not everyone who fails to log enough shut eye actually has trouble sleeping. Plenty of us are just staying up too late or putting off bedtime in favor of other activities.

But over time, staying awake into the wee hours can come with a hefty cost. Here are nine surprising ways you can benefit from ditching, or at least minimizing, your night owl habit and following a consistently early bedtime schedule.

Why do we sleep?

Sleep is a normal, indeed essential part of our lives. But if you think about it, it is such an odd thing to do.

At the end of each day we become unconscious and paralyzed. Sleep made our ancestors vulnerable to attack from wild animals. So the potential risks of this process, which is universal among mammals and many other groups, must offer some sort of evolutionary advantage.

Research in this area was slow to take off. But recently there has been a series of intriguing results that are giving researchers a new insight into why we sleep and what happens when we do it.

Lost Sleep Leads to Loss of Brain Cells, Study Suggests

Sleep loss may be more serious than previously thought, causing a permanent loss of brain cells, research suggests.

In mice, prolonged lack of sleep led to 25% of certain brain cells dying, according to a study in The Journal of Neuroscience.

If the same is true in humans, it may be futile to try to catch up on missed sleep, say US scientists.

They think it may one day be possible to develop a drug to protect the brain from the side-effects of lost sleep.

How Dangerous is Sleep Deprivation, Really?

Everyone has a night here or there where sufficient sleep just doesn't happen. (Just ask anyone who's ever been to Vegas... or cared for a newborn.) But a lot of people miss out on getting significant shut-eye on a regular basis. In fact, about one in five American adults are sleep deprived.

The rumor: Sleep deprivation is harmful and can even be life-threatening

If you've ever come close to nodding off in the boardroom or behind the wheel, you know that the effects of sleep deprivation can range from embarrassing to downright terrifying. But are we really putting ourselves and others at risk, however inadvertently? And if we are sleep deprived, how do we fix it?

Here’s How Much Experts Think You Should Sleep Every Night

The National Sleep Foundation releases new recommendations

A national panel of sleep experts released new recommendations Monday that call for more hours of sleep for most young people.

The National Sleep Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at promoting healthy sleep and safety, says the amount of sleep a person needs is highly variable and that some people need more than others. 

Sleep well in middle age to stay sharp in later life

People who enjoy longer and better sleep in younger years delay age-related changes, say scientists.

Burning the candle at both ends might seem an attractive prospect when you are younger, but you could be storing up problems in later life, new research suggests.

Scientists have found that people who enjoy longer and better sleep under the age of 60 could delay age-related changes in memory and thinking.

A Good Night’s Sleep is the Secret to Success

Research suggests our brains depend on a nightly bath to keep them functioning at their best.

Tossing and turning the night before a big presentation at work, or going without sleep for reasons you just can’t explain – there’s little doubt that failure to get a good night’s sleep leaves you groggy and dazed, at best. But the cognitive effects of sleep deprivation, whether you miss an entire night or just an hour each evening, could cost you in ways you never imagined.

Evidence from University of California–San Diego researchers suggests sleep times are directly linked to earnings. Their findings, currently under review, found that sleeping one extra hour each night increased average earnings by 16 percent. For their average study participant, this meant an extra $6,000 per year.

8 Health Risks Of Sleeping Too Much

It's a little hard to believe there's such a thing as sleeping too much, since so many of us feel like it's a struggle to even get barely enough.

But it's true: You can overdo it on sleep.

While it's tough to pinpoint the "just right" amount, most adults need between seven and nine hours a night to feel and function their best.

Regularly logging more than nine hours of sleep a night may be a sign of an underlying medical condition, but it also puts you at risk for a whole host of health concerns. Here are some of the biggest risks of catching too many Zzs.