How sleep can impact the bottom line

Nearly one billion people (in some countries, up to half the population) worldwide suffer from the breathing disorder sleep apnea. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, undiagnosed sleep apnea in the U.S. creates an annual economic burden of about $150 billion in lost productivity, car accidents and workplace accidents.

And economic burden isn’t the only concern: Untreated sleep apnea sufferers face an increased risk of health conditions, including hypertension, diabetes and depression.

Considering the number of sufferers in the U.S. and abroad, the odds of your workforce being affected by sleep apnea are extremely high. By implementing sleep awareness within your workforce, you can help increase productivity while positively impacting the lives of your employees.

First, start by understanding what sleep apnea is.

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. Symptoms can include waking up with a very sore or dry throat, headaches, restless sleep, snoring, forgetfulness and more.

It’s easy to see how this disorder could affect every aspect of you or your team’s lives. In a corporate setting, inadequate or problematic sleep could lead to poor management, hostility in the workplace and even unforced errors, like misplacing a decimal. These types of mistakes and cultural issues can be extremely costly.

As sleep testing becomes more ubiquitous, less costly and less invasive, we are gaining a better understanding of who suffers from sleep apnea. In fact, we have learned that sleep-disordered breathing affects 23.4% of women and 49.7% of men.

How can this disease be so prevalent? Explained extremely well in James Nestor’s book, Breath, there are mounds of archeologic data that indicate that our mouths are actually shrinking from generation to generation. Theories speculate that this is due to society’s move to a more processed and softer food supply. When the mouth shrinks from generation to generation, the teeth can crowd the tongue and push it further back into the airway. This can result in a reduction in airflow, snoring and/or an obstruction of the airway, resulting in apnea.

When the body is choking itself every night, we can go into a fight or flight state, which takes an extreme toll on the mind and body. The result is often tiredness, mental cloudiness and anxiety or depression. These states can take a huge toll on your employees’ lives, both personally as well as within the workplace.

What can you do about it?

Awareness is usually the first step in improving or rectifying an issue. So, the fact that you made it this far in an article about sleep apnea is a great first step. The next step could be to ensure that you are creating an environment where self-care (especially allowing time for appropriate rest) is honored. The 60-hour workweek will create great short-term results, but it is a poor long-term strategy. Do what you can to ensure that you, your family and your team get adequate sleep. If you need guidance, a sleep specialist can offer a suite of educational options, including coaching in sleep hygiene, to help you identify possible sleep dysfunction or diagnose sleep-related breathing problems.

As leaders, promoting a culture of healthy habits and especially sleep can pay huge dividends in the long run, both personally and professionally. After all, your future depends on your dreams — so go to sleep.

Max Kerr is Owner of Sleep Better Austin and Vista Ridge Family Dentistry, improving the lives of people through better sleep.