Productivity Primer

Are you getting enough sleep?

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) reports that 74% of American adults experience sleep problems a few nights a week or more, and 39% are getting less than 7 hours of sleep each weeknight.  Sleep deprivation is affecting us with 37% of adults being so sleepy during the day that it interferes with their daily activities.

Why is sleep important? According to the NSF, sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are estimated to cost Americans over $100 billion annually in lost productivity, medical expenses, sick leave and property damage.  To be your most productive you need to ensure you get enough sleep!

So how much sleep do you really need?  It's hard to say... sleep needs are based on the individual!  A calculation of basal sleep + sleep debt (lost sleep that increases your sleep needs) = an individual's sleep needs.  There is no "magic" number that applies to everyone, but as a rule of thumb 8 hours is a good average for most.  NSF reports that on the average Americans get only 6.9 hours of sleep per night, which is a slept debt of about 1 hour / night.

The NSF provides these 3 tips that may help you sleep:

Best wishes on your quest for Zzzz...

The Learning College
an excerpt from Terry O'Banion's: A Learning College for the 21st Century

"The learning college places learning first and provides educational experiences for learners anyway, anyplace, anytime" (O'Banion, 1995-96, p. 22, emphasis added). The model is based on the assumption that educational experiences are designed for the convenience of learners rather than for the convenience of institutions and their staffs. The term "the learning college" is used as a generic reference for all educational institutions.

The learning college is based on six key principles:

• creating substantive change in individual learners.

• engaging learners as full partners in the learning process, with learners assuming primary responsibility for their own choices

• creating and offering as many options for learning as possible

• assisting learners to form and participate in collaborative learning activities

• defining the roles of learning facilitators by the needs of the learners

• defining success as the breakthroughs of improved and expanded learning for its learners

Click here  if you would like to read more from the excerpt on A Learning College.