March 17th is World Sleep Day
And if you’re focused on enhancing your career as an accountant, but you don’t prioritise the natural behaviour of sleep as one of your fundamental pillars of health , you’re missing a trick. And worryingly, it seems you may not be alone! A study from AVN Inspiring Accountants suggested that 45% of accountants are not getting enough sleep!
Sleep is MAGIC. And sleep is ESSENTIAL.
The slogan for this year’s World Sleep Day is ‘Sleep is essential for health.‘ And our extensive experience placing talented accountants into rewarding roles with the very best firms in public practice tells us that candidates who fail to prioritise their health don’t win as many roles as those who make their physical, mental and social wellbeing a priority.
So here is a summary of the key messages that the team at the World Sleep Society would like us all to take away this year, as well as our thoughts on what they mean to accountants in particular.
1. Healthy Sleep is about more than the duration of time that your head is on the pillow.
To excel in your career as an accountant and to enjoy a fulfilling and happy life, combine a focus on the duration of your sleep with efforts to ensure that it is continuous and deep.
Duration + Continuity + Depth = ENERGY and HEALTH
But if you’re struggling to find this magic formula and apply it to your own sleep here’s a few ideas that might help.
- Find a routine and stick to it as much as possible. You body’s circadian rhythm is a powerful thing and if it learns that it can expect to head to bed and wake up at roughly the same sort of time, most of the time, you’ll find it easier to drift off into a deeper level of sleep.
- Consider your usual sleep and think about barriers to reaching a deeper level of sleep and staying there – make sure your technology is switched off or set to do not disturb, don’t drink too much alcohol and have your last drink before bed in good time to avoid unnecessary nighttime visits to the loo!
- If you find it hard to slow your thoughts before drifting off to sleep, consider using a meditation app or set yourself a rule to limit screen time an hour before bed and instead slow your brain activity down by reading.
2. Sleep is a key component to health. See below the direct impact that sleep has on your mental and physical health as outlined by the World Sleep Society. You’ll find the full list of references to back up these statements here
- Sleep helps support memory and learning.
- Sleep helps clear waste from the brain and promote brain health.
- Sleep supports brain health, and brain health supports sleep.
- Sleep supports immune health, and immune health supports sleep.
- Sleep helps the immune system to clear bacteria and viruses.
- Sleep helps to recycle old cells and maintain our bodies and energy levels.
- Sleep health is unevenly distributed across populations and is an important target for improving health equity.
- Poor sleep has been linked to obesity, diabetes, coronary artery disease, and cardiovascular mortality.
- Poor sleep can lower immune response, creating greater susceptibility to infections that further reduce sleep quality.
- Certain sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder are associated with cognitive impairment, dementia, risk of seizures, and increased risk of stroke.
- Poor sleep can result in reduced reaction times, impaired judgment, and cognitive impairment similar in effect to alcohol intoxication.
- Drowsiness can impair safe driving even if the driver does not fall asleep.
So, from a professional and a personal perspective you can see that maintaining excellent sleep should be a priority for us all. And even more so if you’re an accountant hoping to advance your career. Memory, learning, brain health – all critical components to an accountant’s success, and would you do a job interview after a few alcoholic drinks? We hope not! So don’t stay up all night prepping for one either.
‘It’s so refreshing to see rest being given the attention it so rightly deserves and a good and healthy routine being championed as part of a defined pathway to success. We often speak to accountants who are totally burned out in their current roles and suffering with stress that prevents them from getting a decent sleep. These candidates are always relieved to hear that there is another way and when we find them positions at firms who help support them to be well and healthy, they tell us that they wish they’d contacted us much sooner.’
Garry Howling, Managing Director
If you’re interested in learning more about roles with firms that will support you in all aspects of your health and wellbeing as well as offering a great package of rewards and professional challenge, reach out to our team today.
And sleep well – we promise you’ll feel better for it!
