The effects of a new born baby...

As a I have recently had another addition to the family, I thought it appropriate to write about how sleep deprivation could potentially have a negative effect on your work, your attitude and your end results.

Babies have no sense of time. In fact, for being awake and asleep at all the wrong times they give hamsters a run for their money. The first couple of months of having a baby in the house are stressful enough; it certainly doesn't help if neither of you has slept properly for days.

New research shows that fathers of newborn babies are more likely to suffer a decrease in productivity at work, which may incur negative long term effects - such as how you are perceived at work, financial loss and even health problems.

Doctor Gary Mellor, from the Southern Cross University, interviewed more than 240 fathers to explore a possible link between fatigue and workplace safety behaviour. He says the findings showed that sleep deprivation puts new dads at risk. "It's a really disturbing picture of how ongoing sleep deprivation increases fatigue," Dr Mellor said."They were reporting that their safety behaviour wasn't as good as it was before the baby came along, and we found that fatigue was causing a lot of accidents."

In addition to the potential problems at work, one could find that it can have a knock on effect on your personal life, for instance having a short fuse - resulting in arguments and fall outs with friends, family and even partners that would never have happened beforehand.

There are various things that can help in the first few months that can ease the potential issues and pain - one being to employ a full time nurse on a 24 hour basis! On a more serious note, I believe that if you can create a rota, enabling you to have time to get more sleep and recharge your batteries then you will feel much better. This will have positive knock on effect with everything else. Also, take a step back from your situation and reflect on how other people are thinking and feeling - a more reflective approach results in a more level headed attitude, with less overall stress.