08/15/2018 / By Zoey Sky
According to a study, sleep doesn’t just affect your mental and physical health. It’s possible that “insufficient sleep could also have grave economic consequences.”
The results of the study, which was published by Oxford University Press in the journal SLEEP, revealed that insufficient sleep affects over one in three adults around the globe.
This public health problem is also worsening. In fact, surveys from the last couple of years have shown that complaints about inadequate sleep were common. In the surveys, about 20 to 30 percent of respondents from various Western nations have reported that they regularly suffer from a lack of sleep.
Meanwhile, recent surveys imply that this percentage is still increasing. For example, about 33 to 45 percent of Australian adults have complaints about insufficient sleep.
Individuals from the same demographic in other nations have the same complaints:
Inadequate sleep is linked to an increased risk of depression, diabetes, heart attacks, hypertension, obesity, and stroke. This sleep problem is also connected to issues such as:
For the study, the researchers tried to gauge the economic consequences of limited sleep times, which was defined as “difficulties with sleep initiation, maintenance or quality associated with the presence of impaired daytime alertness” for about several days a week in Australia.
They also analyzed the financial and non-financial cost data gathered from national surveys and databases.
The study considered the following costs:
In total, the estimated overall cost of inadequate sleep in Australia, which had a population of 24.8 million from 2016 to 2017, was a whopping $45.21 billion. (Related: Brain fog is caused by lifestyle: Doctor reveals how diet, stress levels and sleep affect hormones, performance and immunity.)
When determining national health priorities, governments have made an effort to pinpoint specific concerns involving communal illness and injury burden linked to high costs for attention via public education, regulation, and other initiatives that can help boost overall health status.
The authors noted that since governments were often successful when it came to targeting public health concerns like depression, diabetes, and smoking, the study findings can be used to address sleep problems. They also warned that there is a worldwide problem concerning insufficient sleep, with various causes such as clinical sleep disorders; pressure from having to balance work, social, and family activities; not prioritizing sleep; and simple ignorance. Aside from the impact of inadequate sleep on mental and physical health, it also has ties to an alarming economic cost.
The researchers concluded that because of its “destructive effects on health, safety, and productivity,” the issue concerning inadequate sleep must be countered immediately by “education, regulation and other initiatives” that can provide both significant economic and health benefits.
If you’re having problems sleeping, try some of the tips listed below:
You can read more articles about the negative side effects of inadequate sleep at Brain.news.
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Tagged Under: costs, economy, finance, financial loss, inadequate sleep, mental, mental health, mind body science, Public Health, research, science, sleep, sleep disorders, sleep problems, sleep quality, sleplessness