According to a study by the Link Institute, the majority of Swiss people sleep an average of seven hours a night, the minimum recommended by doctors. Around one in five Swiss people have trouble falling asleep. Sleep quality is affected by a number of factors. In particular, respondents cited tension (34%), stress (31%) and nervousness (20%).

The physical and mental demands of work can have an influence on sleep. Night shifts, long days, repetitive work under pressure and stress are all things that can cause sleep disorders. These are not good for your health and will have a direct impact on your personal and professional life.

Sleep and work: the consequences of sleep deprivation

Lack of sleep upsets the body’s equilibrium, with harmful consequences for health: increased risk of diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression, irritability… According to the Institut National du Sommeil et de la Vigilance, sleep debt carries the same accident risk as alcohol. It’s easy to imagine that if you don‘t sleep well, you won’t work as well.

At work, a lack of sleep can lead to a drop in creativity, productivity and, in general, cognitive performance. But it can also have an impact on your behavior, making you more irritable than usual. Lack of sleep makes it harder to control our emotions. This makes you less empathetic and friendly.

Sleep disorders can make you more vulnerable to work stoppages and accidents. This can have disastrous financial consequences for the employer. The latter has a real role to play in helping employees better manage sleep disorders. To achieve this, Samaé can offer a wide range of group workshops on well-being, as well as a personalized teleconsultation service for each employee.

Know your chronotype to better manage sleep and work

Your chronotype is your sleep profile. It indicates the different sleeping and waking habits of each individual. Based on the internal (biological) clock, it is unique to each person.

This helps define individual sleep characteristics. So, to tame sleep as well as possible, it’s important to know our habits, whether we prefer to move more in the evening or the morning.

There are 3 different chronotypes:

• morning chronotype: the tendency is to get up and go to bed early, to feel good when you get up, to perform better at the start of the day and to find it difficult to stay up late;
• late chronotype: the tendency is to get up later, to be tired when you get up, to start the day slowly and to be at your best in the evening;
• the intermediate or neutral chronotype.

Would you like to know your chronotype so you can better manage sleep and work? This test, the Circadian Typology Questionnaire published by Jim A Horne and Olov Östberg in 1976, is still the most widely used to measure chronotype.

Sleep and work: what services does Samaé offer to combat fatigue?

The following natural therapies have excellent results for sleep problems and severe fatigue.

• Sophrology uses relaxation and breathing techniques to combat sleep disorders and eliminate fatigue.
• Hypnosis can improve your ability to fall asleep and regenerate during the night by acting on your unconscious mind.
• Yoga therapy is yoga with a scientific approach! Your yoga teacher will suggest targeted postures to improve sleep and restore high energy levels.
• Meditation helps to silence the mind, combat stress, return to the present moment and prepare the body for restful sleep. In the long term, meditation drastically reduces chronic fatigue.
• Lymphatic drainage acts on your parasympathetic nervous system, allowing you to let go immediately and fall asleep more easily.
• Bach flowers Whether it’s to help you fall asleep or to boost your energy levels, flower essences can help treat the problem at its source.