Better Sleep for a Better Life

If you’re like me, sometimes you need a little caffeine boost in the mornings to get your day going. I am a firm believer in getting enough sleep each night, and I can definitely tell a difference on the days I don’t get my 7 – 8 hours in. According to sleep experts, 70 percent of Americans do not get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep each night. 

Lack of sleep can affect everything from your mood, your work productivity, your energy level, your mental focus and even your ability to burn fat and control your appetite. Limited sleep affects every aspect of your life, especially your job performance. The Better Sleep Council conducted a survey in which respondents reported sleep deprivation impaired their quality and accuracy of work (31%), clear thinking or judgment (31%) and memory of important details (30%). 39% of those surveyed receive six hours or less of sleep per night, with 16% receiving less than five hours of sleep. The survey also revealed that 65% of Americans are losing sleep due to stress, 32% are losing sleep at least one night a week, and 16% experienced stress-induced insomnia.

Getting enough sleep can significantly impact your quality of life. It is recommended that you get at least 7-9 hours of sleep each night. If you are not getting the recommended amount of sleep or experiencing sleepless nights, begin taking steps to make this important lifestyle change. Try some of these better sleep tips:

• Plan your day so you allow for enough sleep time. How early do you need to get to bed to get your 7-9 in? What adjustments do you need to start making to your day to achieve this?
•  Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Try to keep bedtime and the time you wake up the same each day. 
•  Keep work, television and other distracting things out of your bedroom or at least limit at bedtime.
•  Avoid nicotine, alcohol or caffeine close to bedtime.
•  Exercise regularly. (**I highly recommend this one. It works wonders.)
•  Try relaxation techniques like a hot bath, reading, or deep breathing at night.
•  Assess your mattress and pillow to ensure good support and comfort. 

Utilizing even a few of these tips can work wonders for your sleep patterns, which will in turn boost your energy and focus each day. 

Source 

Thursday HR Humor

Picture credit

Is Company Culture Really That Important?

Alexandra Levit's Article

While reading articles this week, I stumbled upon this blog post by Alexandra Levit. She wrote about a speech Zappo's CEO, Tony Hsieh, gave at the national SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) conference last year. He spoke about the culture of Zappo's, which I find very interesting. Differences in company culture have always interested me, and now especially since the company that I work for is in the midst of trying to change the culture within our organization.

Last year, I had the opportunity to hear some employees from Zappo's speak at a work meeting. I found it fascinating that an internet shoe company places so much emphasis on their culture and stands behind the notion that their employees - not their prices or discount shoe selection - are the reason that the company has been extremely successful. As you can read in the blog post, Zappo's even offers its employees a $3,000 bonus to quit the company once they complete their training. They say that this ensures that they only have employees working for them that really, truly want to be there. I think that is a great way to show employee loyalty.

What do you think about employee loyalty and finding an employee that fits well with the culture of the organization? Do you think that even in the current job market this should remain an important factor in the hiring decision?

Entering the World of Blogging

If you're reading this, Hi! Thank you for stopping by my blog. My name is Amanda Levert. As stated in my personal profile, I am an HR professional by day, and part-time graduate student amongst other things by night.

This semester I am taking a Social Media Management elective as a part of my MBA curriculum. The professor has given us free-reign to choose a social media project to work on for this semester, with the hopes that this project will be something that is of use to us after the class ends in December. Since I currently work in the Human Resources field and plan to do so for the remainder of my career, I decided that this would be a great topic for me to choose to blog about.

In this blog, I will post HR articles of interest and also share my thoughts and opinions on various human resources related topics. I will also from time to time post on other personal topics that interest me. I hope you will enjoy reading my blog, and thanks again for taking the time to stop by!