Nationally, insufficient sleep could have serious economic consequences. We explain why.
Inadequate sleep is a public health problem affecting more than one in three adults worldwide. In France, 73% of the population say they wake up at least once a night and almost 60% of people with a child say they don’t get enough sleep. Overall, the French have lost 1.5 hours of sleep over the past 50 years, particularly because of the use of screens: 20% leave their smartphone on at night and 50% of them are woken up by messages. Worse, 30% respond instantly.
A modern problem facing other countries as well: 35% of American adults say they don’t get 7 hours of sleep a night, around 30% of Canadians don’t feel like they are getting enough sleep, and some 37% of Britons and 28% of Singaporeans say they lack sleep.
However, no offense to some 13% of French people – aged 25-45 – who think that sleeping is a waste of time, this sleep shortage is associated with several ailments: problems with concentration, confusion, irritability, memory loss, slowing down or mistreating information, indifference, loss of empathy. Over the long term, short-term sleep even increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and depression.
Lack of sleep, a hefty bill
A new study published in the journal SLEEP suggests that insufficient sleep could also have serious economic consequences. Australian researchers have in fact attempted to quantify the economic consequences linked to limited sleep times several days a week. To do this, they assessed financial and non-financial data from surveys and national databases. Costs taken into account included: financial costs associated with health care, informal care provided outside the health sector, lost productivity, car accidents, deadweight losses and the non-financial costs of a loss of well-being.
And the bill is steep. The component of these financial costs included: health care costs of $ 160 million for sleep disorders and $ 1.08 billion for related conditions; productivity losses amounting to $ 12.19 billion (premature death, absenteeism, unemployment, etc.); the costs of non-medical accidents that cost $ 2.48 billion annually; informal care costs of $ 0.41 billion and a deadweight loss of $ 1.56 billion. The non-financial cost of welfare reduction amounted to $ 27.33 billion. In total, the estimated global cost of sleep deprivation in Australia in 2016-2017 (for a population of 24.8 million) was $ 45.21 billion. What can we deduce from this for a country of 66.9 million inhabitants like France?
Education of populations
“We are in the midst of a global epidemic of sleep deprivation,” say the researchers, listing clinical sleep disorders, those related to pressure at work or family and those of people who do not see sleep as a priority. “Apart from its impact on well-being, this problem has enormous economic costs, through its destructive effects on health, safety and productivity.” These costs justify investing in preventative health measures to address the problem through education and regulation, the researchers say.
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