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Experts agree that we sleep less and less, including on weekends. It is not always easy to rest on Saturdays and Sundays, between cleaning, shopping and various invitations to go out. However, sleeping well on our days off is essential to be efficient at work, according to a German study.
A research team affiliated with the University of Mannheim investigated how the quality of sleep during the weekend influences employees’ ability to mentally reconnect with their work on Monday, and to be effective throughout the week.
Because a large number of employees struggle to get back to their files on Monday morning, after being away from the office for 48 hours. Some even tend to be aggressive that day, before softening over the course of the week, according to an article published in 2021 by the Journal of Applied Psychology. For some, this phenomenon is even pathological. Researchers speak of “Monday morning syndrome”, a disorder that manifests itself, among other things, by a lack of energy, irritability and difficulty concentrating.
While the existence of this syndrome is disputed, there is no doubt that workers must undergo a process of psychological reattachment, that is, mentally reconnect with their professional objectives, after days of rest. The authors of the present studypublished in the Journal of Organizational Behaviorsuggested that workers have less difficulty getting to work on Monday when they have slept well over the weekend.
To test this hypothesis, the researchers followed 310 German employees for five weeks. They were asked to answer a questionnaire on their sleep quality and reattachment to work on Monday, and then, on Friday, another on their level of fatigue and performance throughout the week.
It turns out that volunteers who had gotten enough rest over the weekend had less trouble getting to work on Monday morning. Conversely, those who hadn’t slept well on their days off had more trouble getting back into the swing of things. Surprisingly, workers who had gotten too little sleep on Saturday and Sunday because of various social obligations seemed immune. They were able to get to work on Monday morning, despite their sleep debt.
On the other hand, the study’s co-signatories noted that fatigue accumulated over the weekend does not directly affect employees’ performance. But since exhaustion impairs long-term effectiveness, it is important to make rest a priority.
That’s why you need to make sure you get enough sleep on Saturday and Sunday. It may seem trivial, but sleep is the key to making Monday a satisfying and productive day, and no longer the worst day of the week. To do this, apply the precepts of the “quiet weekend” and stop feeling guilty about resting. Without energy, you won’t get very far.