Lack of sleep costing US economy up to $411 billion per year

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/rc-los112816.php

Public Release: 30-Nov-2016
Lack of sleep costing US economy up to $411 billion per year
RAND Corporation

Lower productivity levels and the higher risk of mortality resulting from sleep deprivation have a significant effect on a nation's economy.
Sleep deprivation increases the risk of mortality by 13 per cent and leads to the U.S. losing around 1.2 million working days a year.
Increasing nightly sleep from under six hours to between six and seven hours could add $226.4 billion to the U.S. economy.

A lack of sleep among the U.S. working population is costing the economy up to $411 billion a year, which is 2.28 percent of the country's GDP, a new report finds.

According to researchers at the not-for-profit research organisation RAND Europe, part of the RAND Corporation, sleep deprivation leads to a higher mortality risk and lower productivity levels among the workforce, putting a significant damper on a nation's economy.

A person who sleeps on average less than six hours a night has a 13 percent higher mortality risk than someone sleeping between seven and nine hours, researchers found, while those sleeping between six and seven hours a day have a 7 percent higher mortality risk. Sleeping between seven and nine hours per night is described as the "healthy daily sleep range".

In total, the U.S. loses just over 1.2 million working days a year due to sleep deprivation among its working population. Productivity losses at work occur through a combination of absenteeism, employees not being at work, and presenteeism, where employees are at work but working at a sub-optimal level.

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