The economic costs and consequences of (insufficient) sleep: a case study from Latin America

Sleep, an essential physiological process, has long been recognized for its critical role in human health and well-being. Beyond its biological significance, recent research has highlighted the intricate interplay between sleep and economic outcomes. By constructing meticulous economic models that account for diverse factors and refining them based on empirical data and local characteristics, this study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the significant economic toll stemming from inadequate sleep and its ramifications on various aspects of society. Here we calculated the effect of insufficient sleep on economic loss in Argentina, according to an Overlapping Generations (OLG) model that considers average sleeping length in terms of the recommended minimum and its effect on productivity and health outcomes. We considered different scenarios in which the population sleeps from six to nine hours every night. Our results indicate that if the whole adult population achieved the recommended sleep duration of at least 7 h/night, it would be associated with a 1.27% higher GDP compared to the baseline scenario, representing the most optimistic outcome. This equals about 3.7 times the total annual budget in science, and is approximately the same percentage as the actually implemented national budget for education. In summary, by bridging the usually distant realms of biology and economics, this study offers a comprehensive analysis that not only deepens our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these costs but also provides potential avenues for intervention and policy-making.