Don’t get enough shuteye? You might be treating sleep as a productivity hack

Researchers who studied the habits of hotel managers found they reported feeling more productive when they had sacrificed sleep.

Hospitality roles tend to require managers to be more physically present. Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock

By Stephen Jones

Many people don’t quite rack up enough sleep, despite the known benefits of getting proper rest.

A recently published research paper examines some of the reasons why, with researchers finding that managers will often sacrifice sleep in order to feel more productive.

Researchers from EM Lyon Business School in France wanted to understand, at a basic level, how a person’s job might impact the level of sleep they get, and how they view the importance of sleep in relation to family life and work.

Over the course of an eight-day study, the researchers asked 98 US hotel managers questions about their previous night’s sleep and how it affected their mood, time and productivity at work the following day.

They chose hotel managers in particular because of the nature of their role. Hotels are open 24 hours a day and require regular face-to-face work.

There were two main findings.

Firstly and somewhat unsurprisingly, despite knowing how important sleep is, workers are more likely to sacrifice sleep compared…