More than a third of Americans don't get enough sleep. That may not seem like a big deal, but being short of sleep—even by just an hour—can have serious effects on your health, and the economy.
Every year, not getting enough sleep costs the U.S. economy up to $ 411 billion, according to a new report from the not-for-profit research group RAND Europe.
The researchers wanted to look at how shortened sleep—which means getting a sleep of less than 7 hours a night—affects the economy of five different countries: the U.S., the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada. With survey results from the National Sleep Foundation, they found three effects: death, since lack (缺乏) of sleep has been connected to about half of the leading causes of death in the U.S.; low productivity (生产力), since sleepy workers are less productive and more likely not to show up; and poor development skills, which affect lifetime earnings.
"How would those countries look if the number of people who sleep less than a certain amount of time actually improved?" wondered Marco Hafner, a research leader at RAND Europe and the report's main author.
The U.S. loses the most from its sleepy people. The researchers said that workers with shortened sleep cost the country's economy about $ 411 billion a year, about 2% of the GDP. Japan was the second most affected, losing about the same of its GDP followed by Germany and the UK. Canada had the best sleepers, but still lost 1.4% of its GDP to lack of sleep. The study authors also found marked health effects from lack of sleep. Sleeping about six hours a night is connected to a 7% higher risk of death, and sleeping less than six hours is connected to a 13% higher risk. "It's not a small problem," Hafner says. "It seems to be not only a public health problem, but also an economic problem."
