Fatigue, or lack of energy, has become an incredible burden to Americans. According to surveys of both working individuals and community residents, nearly 40% of us complain of being excessively tired. We’re not talking about just yawning until we get that second cup of coffee; this is the kind of tired that’s involved in causing auto accidents, many of them fatal.
A sample of the U.S. workforce found the economic costs of lost productivity related to fatigue were estimated at over $100 billion per year. Another group of scientists estimated these losses at more than $136 billion per year. (Ricci JA, Chee E, Lorandeau AL, Berger J.J Fatigue in the U.S. workforce: prevalence and implications for lost productive work time. Occup Environ Med. 2007 Jan;49(1):1-10.) Sounds like a lot of dough, doesn’t it? Oh, but I forgot to add on the lost productivity costs due to a lack of sleep (no doubt caused by fatigue, right?) This accounts for another $411 billion. (Hafner M, Stepanek M, Taylor J, Troxel WM, van Stolk C. Why sleep matters — the economic costs of insufficient sleep: A cross-country comparative analysis. Rand Corporation. Accessed 7-26-21 at: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1791/RAND_RR1791.pdf) Without overlap between these two, the total productivity loss due to fatigue-related causes is $547 billion per year. (see additional info on fatigue and energy at: https://www.21chcllc.com/energize)