Fun fact: Did you know that sleep deprivation was a factor in some of the biggest disasters in world history? Case in point, the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, the 1986 nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, and the 1989 massive Exxon Valdez oil spill, among many other recent catastrophes.
A recent survey from dayzz highlighted how poor sleep habits are among employees in some of the biggest companies in the world, coming from finance, tech, shift work, and other sectors.
The findings from the study revealed that the percentage of employees getting at least 5.5 hours of sleep, or less, every night is rather alarming. After all, sleep deprivation is a known cause of performance and safety issues – the aforementioned fun fact says it all.
As it happens, studies have shown that just two weeks of restricted sleep (under 6 hours per night) leads to cognitive impairment, which can be compared to a person who has been awake for 24 to 48 hours straight.
On the other hand, getting a good night’s sleep is very much beneficial. Simply spending 7 to 9 hours of shut eye will help with maintaining body fitness, keeping a sharp mind, and reduces risks of mood elevation.
Nonetheless, it is surprising to discover how many of the employees surveyed struggled to achieve even the minimum recommended amount of sleep; which in return, induces detrimental effects to their personal lives, their companies, their clients, and others.
Highlights from the survey results:
-
77% of employees at GM feel they incur risk from lack of sleep 5-7 days per week.
-
61% of employees surveyed at Chevron get 5.5 hours of sleep, or less, a night.
-
Employees don’t perform optimally an average of 2 days per week due to poor sleep quality.
-
The worst ranked companies were ExxonMobil, Amazon, GE, Intel, and GM.
