Time Management: Making Sleep a Priority - Literature review Example

Importance of Sleep Time management Sleep is very essential to all animals including man. It is the main contributor of good health. Getting enough sleep at the right times can not only protect one’s mental health, but also physical health and quality of life. Enough sleep also increases people’s safety. The way people feel after waking up correlates with what happens while they were sleeping. According to “Sleep and Lifestyle” (2015), the body works to support healthy brain functions as well as maintain ones physical health during sleeping. In children and teenagers, sleep supports growth and development. It is also apparent that ongoing lapses in sleep can result to chronic health problems. Lack of enough sleep can also hamper with the way a person thinks, reacts, learns, and interacts with other people. The main solution to the problems associated with lack of sleep is time management. Management of time will make one have enough time for sleep, and as a result, solve problems related to lack of enough sleep. Thus, a good time management program needs to be created and observed. The program will involve using two main tool; activity logs and to-do list. In tandem with what was introduced above, it is apparent that lack of sleep or insufficient for sleep is associated with poor time management. In his work, Dansky (2013) claims that the activities of the day are the main contributors of people shortening the time for sleep. In other words, balancing the commitments of the day makes a person steal some sleep time. According to him, lack of making sleep a priority also makes people avoid dedicating some time for sleep. In connection with Dansky’s claim, Wavy (2008) study on the relationship between time management and other factors such as stress, sleep quality as well as academic performance of student showed that poor time management is the main cause of all problems encountered in life. According to him, majority of people in Hong Kong try hard to use every minute in their lives in order to achieve accomplishments (Wavy 2008). However, he also claims that improper use of time creates stress because of poor quality of sleep. In relation to Wavy’s argument, Sun and Yang claim that majority of the students find it challenging to manage their time (Sun and Yang 1987). According to them, students fail to balance the time for sleep, time for waking up, time spent at school, and time for doing homework. The improper balance of the time contributes to the poor performance of children in their academics. Wavy argues that the three components of time management; “macro, intermediate and micro levels” (Wavy 2008) as the best thing to observe in management of time. The macro level is associated with choice and goal prioritizing. The intermediate level is concerned with creating tasks from the goals as well as sub-goals, whereas the micro level deals with planning and implementing. Observance of these factors can enable a person utilize and control his or her time effectively. The main solution to the disorders associated with sleep deficiency is time management. Proper management of time will lead to allocation of enough time for sleep. In relation to this, a time management program that incorporates factors that will enhance proper use of time is very crucial. For instance, it is apparent that most people waste much of their time doing unproductive things in life or working on a specific thing for a long time. It is also evident that some people do not plan for the activities of the day, and as a result of this, they divert much of their attention on specific things instead of balancing their work to all important things. Another factor that contributes to poor time management is lifestyle; people prefer some things in life to others which as a result affect the functionality of their body. For instance, it is evident that majority of the people love watching movies, playing games, and talking more than sleeping. To combat this problem, I came up with a time management program, “Budget your Time”, that incorporates activity logs and to-do list. An activity log is a tool that enables a person to not only review, but also manage what they do in a day. Use of the activity logs will enable a person know the time he or she spends each day on useless things. It will assist a person know about things that do not enhance success in his or her work. For instance, it will enable a person record the time spent on reading junk mails, talking to friends, eating meals, and watching movies. The use of the Activity logs will make the user realize the time wasted since memory often provides inaccurate information (Time Management Toolkit 2005). The usage of this tool involves noting down the things done every day on the Activity Log template without modifying any behavior. Every time the person changes behavior by switching to a different activity, the time of change is noted down. In addition to recording activities, it is crucial for a person to record how she or he feels; whether alert, tired, energetic, and many other feelings. After recording the activities and feelings for some days in a notebook, a user we realize the time wasted in doing low value activities. The analysis will enable the user eliminate some activities and in the process free up some time for sleep. Unlike activity logs, to-do list, a list of works on a document, is associated with the amount of work a person does in a day. Often, people feel weighed down by the amount of work they do in a day. This might be as a result of working on deadlines or working on important jobs that were forgotten. To-do list assists significantly in doing away with this challenge; it involves listing down all the activities that need to be done in the course of the day starting with the most important (Time Management Toolkit 2005). Although this sounds simple, it is evident that people start experiencing its productivity after using to-do list properly. Thus, it is important for a person to list all the activities of the day before embarking on any of them. After listing, it is crucial to arrange them in relation to their importance. This will aid a person do important activities first, and in the process avoid eating time for other activities. Although implementation of this program will aid in the management of time, it is evident that some people may find it challenging to use it because of lack of supervision. Additionally, the filling of the table may be prone to biasness since people value activities of the day differently. The filling of the log and list may also be associated with biasness because of the freedom one has in recording his or her activities. Thus, implementation of the program may have some challenges in the current society which constitute of young generation. Sleep is very essential in life. It is responsible for good health and proper decision making. Insufficient sleep results to diseases and accidents. It also leads to poor performance in job environment and school. Lack of sleep is linked to poor management of time. Many people prioritize other things more than sleep. Implementation of a “Budget your Time” program that involves using activity logs and to-do list will aid significantly in the management of time. The program will enable the users specify the time for doing the activities of the day in accordance to their importance and the available time. The main challenge associated with implementation of this program is lack of monitoring. Some like to be monitored when doing things. Some users may also be biased in feeling the tables that govern their works of the day. Works Cited Dansky, Jeri. Time Management: Making Sleep a Priority. Unclutterer. 2013. Web. 23 April 2015. https://unclutterer.com/2013/10/24/time-management-making-sleep-a-priority/ Khatib, Ahmed. Time Management and Its Relation To Students’ Stress, Gender and Academic Achievement Among Sample of Students at Al Ain University of Science and Technology, UAE. International Journal of Business and Social Research. 2014. Web. 23 April 2015. http://thejournalofbusiness.org/index.php/site/article/view/498 Sleep and Lifestyle - Managing Priorities and Sleep. National Sleep Foundation. 2015. Web. 23 April 2015. http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/sleep-and-lifestyle-managing- priorities-and-sleep Sun, Hechuan and Yang, Xiaolin. Students Pressure, Time Management and Effective Learning. International Journal of Educational Management. 1987. Web. 23 April 2015. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/09513540910981005 Time Management Toolkit: Essential Skills for an Excellent Career. 2009. Web. 23 April 2015. http://inspiredindividuals.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Time-Management- Toolkit2.pdf Wavy, Wong. The Relationship between Time Management, Perceived Stress, Sleep Quality and Academic Performance among University Students. 2008. Web. 23 April 2015. http://libproject.hkbu.edu.hk/trsimage/hp/06636306.pdf Read More