A new CDC study finds more than 40 million workers get fewer than six hours of sleep per night - about 30 percent of America's civilian workforce.
Insufficient sleep can have serious and sometimes fatal consequences for fatigued workers and others around them. For example, an estimated 20% of vehicle crashes are linked to drowsy driving. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that healthy adults sleep 7–9 hours per day. To assess the prevalence of short sleep duration among workers, CDC analyzed data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey.
A recent National Sleep Foundation poll found 50 percent of pilots, 44 percent of truck drivers, and 29 percent of bus, taxi and limousine drivers said they rarely got a good night's sleep on workdays. According to the CDC, an estimated 20 percent of vehicle crashes are linked to drowsy driving. In 2010, 4,547 workers died from occupational injuries, and approximately 49,000 died from work-related illnesses.
Read the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
