According to research, about seventy million Americans suffer from sleep deprivation and sleep disorders. Some even struggle with getting the much needed 7 – 8 hours of good night’s sleep. That said, one should not only lie in bed but have a productive sleep during these hours. Otherwise, they will experience daytime exhaustion.

Hence, when speaking of sleep, we may conclude that quantity isn’t equal to quality. To find out everything you need to know about productive and unproductive sleep, just continue reading the article.

Productive Sleep

Getting productive sleep means that you have gone through several cycles of sleep stages without waking up or being interrupted. Experiencing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is key for productive sleep since it is the stage in which both your body and mind relax and revitalize for the day to come. During one night, you should go through this stage around four times – which means that one-quarter of your sleep time in REM sleep.

Unproductive Sleep

On the other hand, unproductive sleep means that you wake up during the night and break your sleep cycle. Usually, once you wake up it is difficult to fall asleep again, and therefore you stay in bed and toss and turn for what seems like forever. Eventually, you’ll end up sleep-deprived without enough productive sleep.

But, how to tell whether or not you are having unproductive sleep, besides the exhaustion? Here’s a brief list of the most common symptoms of unproductive sleep:

• Trouble concentrating, memorizing, and learning
• Increased appetite and carbohydrate cravings
• Lack of energy and motivation
• Moodiness and irritability
• Fatigue and yawning

Furthermore, many sleeping habits, lifestyle choices, and even medical conditions can lead to experiencing unproductive sleep. Some frequent causes of unproductive sleep include:

• Poor sleep hygiene
• Insomnia
• Noise disturbances
• Overexposure to blue light
• Depression
• Anxiety and stress
• Busy work schedules
• Jet lag
• Physical pain
• Restless leg syndrome

Lack of Productive Sleep Effects

As you can imagine, sleep deprivation can negatively affect both our private and professional life. Namely, one research shows that sleep deprivation causes whopping $400 billion economic losses every year in the USA only. This is mainly because not getting enough productive sleep seriously affects productivity, reduces efficiency, and increases the chance of making errors and accidents.

But, that’s not all! Sleep deprivation may not only affect productivity but can also decrease cognitive skills resulting in being unable to concentrate and retain information. One study shows that the connections between the emotion and reward-processing brain center and the prefrontal cortex get altered when you are sleep deprived. This leads to impaired executive functions, heightened emotional responses, and irritability.

In addition, the same study found out that even one night of sleep deprivation results in amyloid-beta plaques buildup in the brain parts that are affected by Alzheimer&rsquo's disease. These plaques negatively affect the neurons and their synapses, resulting in behavior, memory, and thinking changes. On the contrary, even one night of productive sleep will increase your energy levels and improve your memory and decision-making skills.

Last but not least, productive sleep will improve performance, reduce the risk of feeling burned out and making careless mistakes. That said, getting productive sleep is crucial for completing everyday tasks successfully and reach optimal physical and mental health. Hence, try to introduce some lifestyle changes like avoiding caffeine, exercising regularly, and following healthy sleep hygiene to increase your chances of getting enough productive sleep every night.