Do you have a good sleeping routine when WFH?

Sleep is often a disregarded factor when it comes to the wellbeing of employees, yet it can have a major effect on mental and physical health and, therefore, business outcomes.

A recent HR Leader podcast episode featured Rachel Beard, a sleep wellness manager at AH Beard Sleep Wellness Centre, who shared insights into how workers can navigate their sleep routine in a hybrid working arrangement.

As Beard explained, a bad night’s sleep can have a huge effect on our daily endeavours and have a huge impact on our mental health and wellbeing.

“How well we sleep can show up in every aspect of our lives. It can impact how we look, how we feel and how we perform in our relationships, how we perform at work, and how we perform in life in general. It has the ability to control our productivity and our engagement, as well as our overall health and wellbeing,” Beard said.

As the lines have been blurred between work and home, sleeping patterns have taken a hit. Working hours can be adapted more than ever, and it’s even harder for workers to truly disconnect from their jobs as the work is now done inside their homes.

“Working from home often blurs the lines between work and rest. It can cause people to work later. It can disrupt our sleeping patterns. Without having clear boundaries and a regular routine, our sleep can actually suffer, especially when you’re introducing the idea of increased screen time, particularly if that screen time ventures into the bedroom.

“Working from home has lots of pros and cons, and I think it really does come down to the individual or the workplace, depending on what environment you’re working in. But I think it is extremely important to have boundaries. And there are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to working from home,” Beard said.

Beard went on to explain some of the do’s and don’ts that workers can take on board to ensure that they get adequate sleep, which can lead to them being productive in the workplace and help them thrive outside of it.

“Some of the do’s are to create structure around your work days and structure around timings and where we work. Obviously, we’re employed to do a job, and we have our set hours, and it’s important that you meet your role and responsibilities. But it’s also important to have structure around where we work and have a dedicated space and make sure that it is conducive to good quality work,” Beard said.

“The other things, when we look at the don’ts on the flip side, are making sure that we allow ourselves time at the end of the workday to disconnect from work. When you’re working from home, you don’t really have that, ‘Oh, I’m leaving the workplace now, it’s time for me to switch off’. It’s really hard to force yourself to step into that.”

“It’s now time for me to disconnect from my work day and relax my mind and my body and prepare for life, or prepare for winding down and getting ready for bed. There are lots of ways that people can do this, whether it’s changing clothes, taking your shoes off, having that kind of physical response, of being able to step away from work.”

With the Right to Disconnect coming into effect, it should alleviate some of that pressure to continue working even when you’re technically off the clock. However, as Beard explained, there’s another mental aspect of this disconnection that depends on where you’re doing your work while at home.

“Some people are lucky enough to have a dedicated work office. Being able to leave the office and shut the door, being able to have that kind of trigger is really beneficial. One of the other big don’ts, which is really important when it comes to our sleep quality, is not allowing your work to seep into your bedroom,” Beard said.

“Our bedroom plays a really big role when it comes to the quality of our sleep. And ideally, it should be our own sleep sanctuary and somewhere that you look forward to going to each and every night. And when we start working in the bedroom, we start to blur those lines between am I here for my mind to be switched on and thinking about work and writing emails, or is this. Or is this my safe space to start preparing for good quality sleep?”

The impact that screen time and blue light can have on our sleep is also a major factor, and as Beard explained, it really ties into the component of having your bedroom as a separate sanctuary rather than another space for your work.

“If we’re working in bed on our laptop, or not having disconnected from your phone and you’re laying in bed in those moments before going to sleep, still getting those last emails or getting your to-do list set or whatever that looks like for you, the blue light that’s emitted from screens, laptops, TVs, our phones, even the lights in our bedroom can be really impactful to our sleep,” Beard said.

“It literally enters our brain and suppresses the production of melatonin, which is our body’s natural sleep hormone. So, what it’s doing is it’s actually tricking our brain into thinking it’s time to be awake, when in fact, it’s time to be winding down and going to sleep.”

“It’s really important to keep your bedroom like a sanctuary and be protective of the space, set up really healthy routines and boundaries around when and where you work, and really allowing yourself time to disconnect once your day is done, I think are the really important points to take out of that.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Rachel Beard, click below:

Click here to listen on your device.

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.