Lack of sleep weighs on productivity, health, safety

THE costs of sleep deprivation are higher than you might think. Besides the well-known health effects such as reduced alertness, heavy yawning, and difficulty focusing, it can also rob you of money. 

Studies have shown that sleep deprivation costs the typical Fortune 500 size company approximately RM328mil (US$80mil) every year.  

This is also a concern in Malaysia. A recent survey by AIA Vitality found that Malaysian employees are overworked, lead unhealthy lifestyles, and are at a higher risk of health problems. 

The same survey also found that Malaysia has the highest percentage of employees who slept less than seven hours a night compared to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. Based on a study in 2015, Malaysians get an average of 6.4 hours of sleep. 

We might attribute this to stress, mobile phone usage before we sleep, or a higher intake of caffeine throughout our day and a lack of a balanced diet. 

But before you shrug this off as a lifestyle choice, take a moment to think about how sleep deprivation costs you. 

You may be prone to diseases such as diabetes, obesity or heart failure. If you don’t sleep enough, your body doesn’t get the rest it needs to recover resulting in a weakened immune system. 

Have you noticed that when you don’t sleep enough, you tend to catch the flu or a fever? 

That’s because your body isn’t strong enough to fight off conditions. 

With more ailments in your life, the cost of your medical expenses also increases thus costing you money and good health. 

You become a less productive employee. This not only costs you of your working hours that basically go down the drain and result in underperformance, it also costs the company. 

With lower productivity, less gets done and projects or deadlines get compromised. This could rob you of a well-earned career but also the company you work with of the profits and revenue. 

Studies have also shown that employees tend to get into more accidents when they are sleep deprived, and this could even mean industrial accidents. 

Did you know some of the largest disasters were caused by a lack of sleep? 

We’re talking about the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which killed all seven crew members; the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which dumped 258,000 barrels of crude oil into the sea and road accidents. Click on this link: http://listverse.com/2017/10/02/10-truly-devastating-disasters-caused-by-sleep-deprivation/

Before you think a lack of sleep is something you can put up with, think again. The costs may far outweigh the benefits. 

The financial implications from your health and your career due to underperformance are dire enough. 

Nadia Khan is content manager at https://www.comparehero.my/ dedicated to increasing financial literacy and to help you save time and money by comparing all credit cards, personal loans and broadband plans in Malaysia.