by Chrisma C. Bangaoil
July 2008
THE workplace has become even more demanding and competitive that one has always to be on his toes to keep pace with all its demands and challenges. Definitely, you can’t do this half-awake. Studies show that work performance declines when alertness levels fall.
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Many organizations measure an employee’s efficiency based on his or her productivity and accuracy. Score cards or performance metrics put emphasis on these two components. Productivity is measured based on the tasks accomplished within a work shift, while accuracy is measured based on the number of errors committed. When your alertness level drops, you are prone to commit more mistakes because concentration is also diminished. Moreover, decision-making is crippled and good judgment is blurred.
Poor performance leads to other problems. Work piles up because of inaccuracy and poor productivity. Thus, you may need to unnecessarily work overtime, get more stressed, be less focused, feel fatigue, commit more errors and miss that gig you’ve been looking forward to during the weekend.
The good news
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Poor work performance due to lack of energy and vitality can be abated. Studies show that coffee can specifically help restore energy and alertness levels. Coffee contributes significantly not only to help you focus and concentrate but also to make you alert. According to research, coffee can increase the speed of information processing by 10%. It increases the processing of new stimuli, enhances analytical skills and response preparation. This translates to meeting your targets and increasing your competitive advantage without unnecessarily working long hours.
Moreover, coffee has been found to sharpen abilities that decline when we are tired or sleepy. Coffee, according to scientific studies, improves attention span, reasoning ability, memory of details and communication skills. Imagine the cost of a single mistake because of lack of focus or memory lapse. Or think of the repercussions of delayed projects or accidents because of slowed mental alertness.
Boredom and tiredness brought about by repetitive tasks can also diminish productivity. Drinking coffee at least twice a day, however, can counter these. Coffee contains natural substances that alert the consciousness and increase tolerance to exercise and muscular activity. Physical fitness and endurance are essential to mental alertness especially for tasks that require long concentration such as those doing web or creative designs, financial analysis, programming, quality monitoring, and trend analysis.
Coffee and mood
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In today’s highly customer-driven organizations, mood plays a very important role. Whether you end your day feeling exhausted and depressed or feeling accomplished depends on your mood. The way you deal with your customers, internal or external, is also influenced by your mood. A toxic meeting can become even more toxic when you are not in good mood. A bad call or a difficult customer can surely ruin your day and affect all your other tasks when your mood is down.
Aside from increasing alertness, coffee has been found out to alter mood in a positive way. This effect is most obvious during low arousal situations such as during graveyard shifts or after lunch. Thus taking a cup of coffee after lunch is not only good for digestion but it also perks up your mood.
One of the usual causes of bad mood is physical discomfort like common headache. Remember how a usually amiable boss suddenly becomes cranky or how you yourself suddenly become irritable because of a simple headache? An alternative to drinking those synthetic tablets that promise to ease headache is to drink a cup of coffee. Again, scientific studies have shown that drinking coffee helps relieve headache among workers. As they say, nothing is good to someone who is in bad mood. On the other hand, things look brighter to someone who is in good mood.
Maximizing the effect of coffee on your performance and mood
Regular consumption of coffee at the start of your work day is recommended since it usually takes 15 minutes to achieve 75% of its effect and one hour to reach its maximum effect. This effect will last three to four hours just in time for the lunch break. The habit of drinking coffee after lunch is also good since a full stomach usually lowers energy levels especially when you had much carbohydrate for lunch not to mention the great temptation to nap. It is also usually difficult to get back to work mood after lunch. Since coffee has been found out to stir up the senses, it is worth having a cup or two after lunch.
It pays to serve coffee during long meetings or when tasks require long hours of mental as well as physical alertness. According to the Positively Coffee Autumn 2007 newsletter, 3 to 4 cups pf coffeeusually gives the desired effect. The amount of consumption, however, varies on each individual and on the nature and schedule of task being performed. You need to know what suits you.
Drinking coffee at work coupled with your skills and competencies enables you not just to meet your targets. This gives you a better edge not only in terms of promotion and better pay but also in terms of ensuring that you keep that well-deserved work life balance that can be too elusive when you are unproductive and when you are having a bad mood.
Sources: Postivelycoffee.org; Brice, C.F. & Smith, A.P. (2002). Effects of Caffeine on Mood and Performance: A Study of Realistic Consumption. Psychopharmacology, Vol 164, Number 2; and http://www.buildingbodies.ca/Nutrition/coffee-caffeine.shtml