Retake Control of Your Life by Establishing Sleeping Habits
Recent research brings in the light vital findings, stating that…
The research we are going to examine takes into account the association between sleep deprivation and mortality, as well as productivity. Τhe findings of this study suggest that insufficient sleep can result in large economic costs in terms of lost GDP and health problems.
The report will be of interest to employers, policy-makers, people interested in the field of sleep, health, and wellbeing in general.
The research conducted by RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit policy research organization that aims to improve policy and decision-making in the public interest through research and analysis.
Individual and workplace-related factors impact sleep duration
Lifestyle and health factors
- BMI: People with a BMI considered overweight or obese sleep on average between about 2.5 minutes to 7 minutes less per day than those with a normal BMI.
2. Smoking: Current smokers sleep on average 5 minutes less per day than non-smokers.
3. Sugary drinks: People consuming more than two sugary drinks per day sleep on average 3.4 minutes less per day than those with fewer sugary drinks.
4. Physical activity: People performing less than 120 minutes of physical activity per week sleep on average about 2.6 minutes less per day than those reporting to do more than the recommended 150 mins of physical activity per week.
5. Mental health: people with medium to high risk of mental-health problems sleep on average 17.2 minutes less per day than those with low risk of mental health issues.
Personal and socio-demographic factors
1. Financial concerns: People with financial concerns sleep on average about 10 minutes less per day than those without concerns.
2. Unpaid care: People who provide unpaid care to family members, close relatives, or friends sleep on average about 5 minutes less per day than those who do not provide unpaid care.
3. Children: People with dependent children under the age of 18 living in the same household sleep on average about 4.2 minutes less per day than those without dependent children under the age of 18.
4. Gender: Men sleep on average about 9 minutes less per day than women.
5. Marital status: People reporting being separated from their partner sleep on average 6.5 minutes less per day than those who say being married. Similarly, people who reported never being married rest on average 4.8 minutes less than those being married.
Workplace psychosocial and job factors
1. Lack of choice: People report a lack of choice in their daily work routine sleep on average 2.3 minutes less per day than those reporting more choice at work.
2. Unrealistic time pressures: people reporting unrealistic time pressures and stress at the workplace sleep on average 8 minutes less per day than those reporting low levels of time pressure.
3. Irregular hours: People who work irregular hours (e.g., shift work) sleep on average 2.7 minutes less per day than those who work regular hours.
4. Commuting: people commuting between 30 to 60 minutes to work (one way) sleep on average 9.2 minutes less per day compared to those with a zero to 15 minutes (one way) commute. In addition, heavy commuters who travel more than 60 minutes to work (one way) sleep on average 16.5 minutes less per day than those with only short commutes.
Other Key Statistics
Insufficient sleep increases mortality risk by up to 13 percent.
Insufficient sleep is costly for employers by reducing workplace productivity.
Up to $680 billion is lost each year across five OECD countries due to insufficient sleep.
Conclusion
Wrapping up, this scientific report tentatively suggests that to improve sleep outcomes:
- Individuals should: Set consistent wake-up times; limit the use of electronic items before bedtime; and exercise.
- Employers should: Recognise the importance of sleep and the employer’s role in its promotion; design and build brighter workspaces; combat workplace psychosocial risks, and discourage the extended use of electronic devices.
- Public authorities should: Support health professionals in providing sleep-related help; encourage employers to pay attention to sleep issues; and introduce later school starting times.
Conversation Note
How many hours do you sleep per day on a normal basis?
Have you noticed any difference in your everyday life and workplace since you started good sleeping habits?
How important do you think sleep is to our lives?
Let me know in the comments!
Sources
- Why sleep matters — the economic costs of insufficient sleep, A cross-country comparative analysis by Marco Hafner, Martin Stepanek, Jirka Taylor, Wendy M. Troxel, Christian Van Stolk.
- Work-family conflict, cardiometabolic risk, and sleep duration in nursing
employees. Journal of occupational health psychology. - Association of insomnia with quality of life, work productivity, and activity impairment. Quality of Life Research.
- Sleep health literacy in head starts families and staff: an exploratory study of knowledge, motivation, and competencies to promote healthy
sleep. Sleep health. - Sleep duration and mortality: a prospective study of 113,138 middle-aged and elderly Chinese men and women.
- A’s from Zzzz’s? The Causal Effect of School Start Time on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents.
- Costa-Font, Joan, McGuire, Alistair, & Stanley, Tom. (2013). Publication selection in health policy research: The winner’s curse hypothesis.
Health policy. - de Castella, Tom. (2014). Could work emails be banned after 6 pm?
BBC News Magazine, April 10, 2014. - Jennifer J. (2013). Always on, never done? Don’t blame the smartphone. Center for Creative Leadership.
Writer Bio
My name is Georgio Ziozas. I come from sunny Greece, 25 years old.
I refer to myself as Knowledge Gangster. Maybe here lies the reason I used this name for my medium publication.
Knowledge Gangster pub focus: Brief, Credible & Simply Explained Research-based Knowledge.
Nothing fascinates me more than acquiring new knowledge, reading philosophy, using technology to make our world a better place, and watching Lord of the Rings.
Some words about my life course so far:
- I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science & Information Technologies from, University of Aegean.
- Currently studying for Master Degree in Cyber Security & Business Analytics from, University of Peiraeus.
- Member of a new groundbreaking crypto social media platform called, Bitclout. As a content creator there I write in 6 columns (‘Daily Dose of Knowledge’, ‘Daily Dose of Philosophy,’ ‘Daily dose of Statistics’, ‘Daily dose of Food’, ‘Daily dose of Technology’). It’s a project you must jump in.
- Starting my own Newsletter on Substack soon.
- Also writing on: Bitclout101 Publication -All about Bitclout-.
