Sleep deprivation a growing problem

According to a UAE survey, only 12% of respondents get the recommended eight hours every day

It would be good if we did not lose sleep over it, but according to a UAE survey, only 12 per cent of respondents get the recommended eight hours of sleep every day. Sixty per cent have at least one to two nights of poor sleep a week and 25 per cent of people’s sleep is hijacked by work-related stress. The dangers of sleep deprivation have been established beyond contention by experts of all stripes.

From individuals suffering consequences of poor sleep by the way of health, a dysfunctional work life and lack of family harmony to national economies being skewed due to it, the data is legion. For example, according to a five-country study of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Japan, by the not-forprofit research organisation RAND Europe, part of the US-based RAND Corporation, lack of sleep among US working population is costing the economy up to $411 billion (Dh1.51 trillion) a year, which is 2.28 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. It was closely followed by Japan (up to $138 billion, which is 2.92 per cent of its GDP, and around 600,000 working days lost).

Sleep is hijacked by many factors: An indisciplined lifestyle, stress, urban angst, work-life imbalance, to name some. And even as individuals victimised by one or more of these factors desperately seek every recourse to be able to enjoy proper sleep once again, there is the growing, and incredulous, problem of self-inflicted sleep deprivation. Enamoured by the post-technology world, people are willingly sacrificing sleep for nocturnal frivolities such as 2am chats on social media.

It is time they realised that they are not doing anyone any favour by economising on sleep. The fleeting short-term pleasures will, in fact, cost them dearly in the long-term.