New report highlights economic cost of sleep deprivation

Sleep-deprived workers are costing the UK economy up to 40 billion pounds a year, according to new research.

RAND Europe's report aimed to quantify the economic losses due to lack of sleep among workers in five different countries – the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and Japan – with data from around 62,000 people included in the analysis.

The estimated loss to the UK is calculated at 1.86 percent of the country's GDP, with more than 200,000 working days lost as a result.

This is in addition to the known public health impact of a lack of sleep. People who sleep on average less than six hours a night have a 13 percent higher mortality risk than someone sleeping between seven and nine hours, while those sleeping between six and seven hours a day have a seven percent higher risk of death.

Marco Hafner, a research leader at RAND Europe and the report's main author, said: "Sleep deprivation not only influences an individual's health and wellbeing but has a significant impact on a nation's economy, with lower productivity levels and a higher mortality risk among workers."

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