Losing Just 16 minutes of Sleep a Night Could Hurt Job Performance, Study Suggests

Losing even a little bit of sleep at night – 16 minutes – can potentially affect how productive you are at work, a recent study said.

The study from researchers at the University of South Florida monitored 130 employees who work in information technology and have at least one school-aged child. Over the course of eight days, participants would log how much they slept and answer a series of questions in a survey.

The questions focused on how often participants experienced off-task or distracting thoughts during the day, also called "cognitive interference." Participants were asked to rate the frequency on a scale from zero to four.

Results showed participants who lost as little as 16 minutes of sleep on a nightly basis reported having more distracting thoughts, making it more difficult to finish their job tasks.

Read more at USA Today