The economics of sleep
Sleep not only makes individuals lose health but also makes countries lose billions of dollars.
Lack of sleep is linked with high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, weight gain, a lack of libido, mood swings, paranoia, depression and a higher risk of diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, dementia and some cancers.
Actually, we are one groggy, cranky, sleep-deprived population.
Reduced sleep hours has a role in automobile accidents, industrial disasters, and medical and occupational errors, not to mention decrease in work productivity and efficiency.
A study by RAND Europe (RAND Europe is a not-for-profit research organisation that helps to improve policy and decision making through research and analysis) found that the United States loses an estimated $411 billion each year from workers who sleep fewer than six hours a night. That’s about 2.28% of US gross domestic product.
Japan comes next, losing around $138 billion, or 2.92% of GDP, followed by Germany ($60 billion; 1.56% of GDP) and the United Kingdom ($50 billion; 1.86% of GDP).
But guess what would happen if people added an extra hour of pillow time?
Just an hour of extra sleep time by the population could reverse the fortunes of countries to a large extent – the US could add $226.4 bill.ion back to the economy, the study said.
Japan would recover $75.7 billion, while Germany and the UK would be able to get back an additional $34.1 and $29.9 billion into their economy if their population slept just an hour more.
Depending on our age, we are supposed to get between seven and 10 hours of sleep each night.
The mantra to get adequate sleep is retire before you tire!
