Don’t overlook ‘personal ecology’

There is a growing appreciation and understanding of the need to take better care of ourselves so that we can perform better in the workplace.

There have been gyms in and near workplaces for years. Additionally, some organizations offer free memberships to gyms and encourage their team members to attend. During this time of walks and runs for good causes, you can spot numerous organization teams participating in the activities.

Most of us have seen, going back decades, the team members at Japanese managed manufacturing organiztions around the world, engaging in calisthenics at the beginning of the shift. Aside from the team-building aspects of this practice, there is a connection to improved physical well-being.

The term personal ecology has become more prevalent in recent years to be a descriptor for the various techniques and personal practices to improve one’s health mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The model of personal ecology would be familiar to many in business as the ecosystem model has come into use as a visual representation of the various systems that surround an organization.

There have been numerous studies over the years that discussed the benefits of sleep. Additionally, as most of us know, the lack of sleep makes us feel a little out of sorts. Now, a new study supports our feelings with scientific findings.

When people don't get enough sleep, certain brain cells literally slow down.

As reported by National Public Radio, a study that recorded directly from neurons in the brains of 12 people found that sleep deprivation causes the bursts of electrical activity that brain cells use to communicate to become slower and weaker, a team reported online Nov. 7 in Nature Medicine.

It was in December 2011 that the Department of Transportation instituted the 70-hour drive week for truck drivers. The intent of the regulation was to lessen the fatigue, to be read as being able to get more sleep, of truckers and thereby making the highways safer for all motorists.

There are those special people, who can function at high levels with minimal sleep. Many training programs in the military and medicine to name two deprive their personnel of sleep as a conditioning measure. And let’s not forget the first responders and forest firefighters who, when called upon work without sleep until “the job is done.”

For the rest of use with normal work lives, however, sleep may well be one of the best things we can do to be more efficient and effective at work.