Employers in Suffolk are being urged to encourage their staff to get more sleep.
The new campaign led by Suffolk Chamber of Commerce says workers will perform better if they are well rested.
The body, which acts as a voice for businesses in the county, has teamed up with Public Health Suffolk to improve workplace wellbeing.
Their latest initiative is focusing on the value of sleep for helping to foster a happy and productive workforce.
One in three people nationally have sleeping problems, which equates to 248,000 people in Suffolk.
John Dugmore, chief executive of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, said: “There have been numerous studies in recent months which suggest that British adults are not getting enough sleep. This has a direct impact on their mental and physical wellbeing both at home and in the workplace.
“We hope that local businesses will help support the basic message of this month’s campaign: Don’t sleep on the job – sleep to do the job better.”
Suffolk Mind runs a course called Sleep Well, Work Well, which promotes the importance of sleep for mental wellbeing and job productivity.
Ezra Hewing, head of mental health education at Suffolk Mind, said 87% of participants felt they were not getting enough sleep, and 100% believed they were not getting the right quality of sleep. He added: “This in turn has an impact on ability to manage stress and to concentrate and perform in the workplace.”
Mr Hewing said: “In particular, we’ve worked hard to increase awareness that while deep sleep repairs the body, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, where most dreaming occurs, has a critical role in keeping us emotionally healthy by calming and destressing our brains. But too much REM sleep, brought on by worrying about unmet emotional needs, exhausts the brain and causes people to wake up feeling tired, lacking in motivation and struggling to get moving.
“To address this we’ve focused on helping people to get good sleep habits in place and address the unmet emotional needs which cause worry and unbalance the quality of our sleep.”
Suffolk Chamber is asking local businesses to answer the question: “How do you ensure your staff are getting enough sleep?” on social media using #HealthyWorkplaces
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