Bringing the laptop to bed does more harm than good

Cosying up to your laptop in bed is a more common habit than most of us would care to admit. But if you're bringing business to the bedroom, chances are you're hindering work productivity.

Little Sister Invitations creative director Megan Linley regularly takes her work to bed with her to promptly reply to customer emails. The Melbourne businesswoman says responding to after-hours emails gives her an edge in the competitive wedding industry.

"I'm just trying to be one step ahead and show people I'm keen to go that extra mile to get their business," she says. "I take the laptop to bed two to three times a week and most nights I put it down at about 10.30pm when my husband cracks it!"

Linley found it so hard to separate herself from her work it was even a struggle not to check emails on her wedding day and honeymoon.

A recent survey found LCD intimacy is most common in 24-to-34-year-olds with one in 10 admitting to checking work emails before going to sleep. The data, collected from 1983 respondents by online mattress retailer Ergoflex, reveals 22 per cent take their laptops to bed and a further 80 per cent kept their phones by their bed.

Liaising with colleagues across international time zones is the main reason Kaye Sutherland continues working from her bed.

"I have international distributors and factories in China and those people need answers to their questions," she says.

The Melbourne small business owner spends 10 to 12 hours a day - including an hour before sleep - operating her children's accessories company Gooie.

Michele Grow, CEO of employee assistance program provider Davidson Trahaire Corpsych, says people working on electronic devices in bed is bad for business.

"They're more likely to have poor posture and there's a higher risk they'll make errors," she says. "And the next day they have had insufficient sleep and are likely to have reduced memory, impaired judgment, slower response times, reduced awareness and ultimately, poor productivity."