Facts

Sleeplessness and Sleep Disorders are a global epidemic. Insufficient sleep has been linked a 20% decrease in lifespan.

Our “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” culture is…killing us.

Almost every human disease – when studied under conditions of poor sleep – gets amplified: from cancer, to heart disease, to Alzheimer’s and more. Over one million people a year are killed in car accidents, and it’s estimated that 1/6 of those are due to sleep-related fatigue. After an all-nighter, a person’s impairment is equal to someone with a 0.1% Blood Alcohol Level. And some of these sleepy people are our doctors and pharmacists driving to work…

…where medical error has become the third leading cause of death in the United States. According to one study, up to 90% of all medical residents have worked while sleep deprived. It’s impossible to calculate the exact impact of sleep deprivation on medical error, but someone has tried for overall productivity.

According to one statistical analysis, sleep deprivation is costing this nation $400 Billion dollars in productivity. That’s almost half of a Trillion dollars annually.  

Cancer

In 2007 The World Health Organization classified Shift Work as a Group 2B Carcinogen. Meaning, inconsistent sleep patterns are considered a cancer risk. It may be due to a compromised immune system from inadequate sleep – not allowing the body’s NK Cells to do their job. It may be from the release of Inflammatory Cytokines due to sleep deprivation.