In a busy world, sleep is a luxury many can't afford.  People spend so much time on work and other activities that sleeping 8 hours a day seems ridiculous.  Doctors recommend getting enough sleep to make your body function better, however, a new study shows it does not only reward the body, but the economy as well. 

Millions Of Working Days A Year Are Lost Caused By Workers Who Have Insufficient Sleep

Researchers from RAND Corporation conducted a study which used data from the National Sleep Foundation and found that 1.2 million working days are lost in a year in the United States due to lack of sleep.  Death risk is 13 percent higher for people who sleep less than six hours a night compared to those who sleep an average of 7 to 9 hours. 

Lead author, Marco Hafner, said: "Our study shows that the effects from a lack of sleep are massive. Sleep deprivation not only influences an individual's health and well-being but has a significant impact on a nation's economy, with lower productivity levels and a higher mortality risk among workers."

The United States Suffers The Largest Economic Impact

Based on the study, the United States suffer the biggest toll on the economy with a loss of as much as $411 billion due to lack of sleep by workers.  Japan is next with $138 billion annually, followed by Germany at $60 billion a year. 

"How would those countries-the U.S., the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada-look if the proportion of people who sleep less than a certain amount of time actually improve?" Hafner said.  "As a society, we need to increasingly think about sleep.  When you hear from business leaders or political leaders that they can get around four hours of sleep and be fine, and that everyone who needs more sleep is a wimp, it's increasingly proven to be wrong," he concluded.