Insomnia Costs American Companies $62 Billion Per Year

According to a new study insomnia is costing American companies as much as $62 billion every year and the average American worker 11.3 days, or $2,280 in lost productivity. Harvard Medical School studied 7,428 workers' sleep habits in 2008-09 and found some suprising results. Overall, a little over 23 percent of the participants suffered from insomnia which is defined as having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. One interesting fact is that workers over the age of 65 had lower rates of insomnia than younger workers and working women suffer from insomnia more than working men according to the study. Researchers also found lower rates of insomnia with those workers who had less than a high school education and a much higher rate among college graduates.

Ronald C. Kessler, a psychiatric epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School says, "it's an underappreciated problem. Americans are not missing work because of insomnia. They are still going to their jobs, but accomplishing less because they're tired. In an information-based economy, it's difficult to find a condition that has a greater effect on productivity".

Employers do not look at insomnia as an illness that leads to absenteeism, so they ignore the consequences of tired workers. Kessler noted that based on this study, employers need to take insomnia more seriously. Treatments for insomnia can range from $200 to $1,200 per year. I don't know about you, but I need a nap.