A poor night's sleep results in a poor day's work for eight in every 10 workers in Ireland, according to new research.
The study also found that 34.3 per cent of Irish workers claim to feeling exhausted on a daily basis.
The findings come as many return to work after Hurricane Ophelia (aka Storm Ophelia) gave them an unexpected long weekend in Ireland.
Looking at the attitudes of 1,300 workers around the topic of sleep and the workplace, the study was conducted with sleep neuroscientist Prof Jim Horne and commissioned by job site CV-Library.
“Most work situations require individuals to make critical decisions, remain focussed and complete tasks within a timely and efficient manner. However, it’s clear from these findings that sleep loss can impair attention to detail amongst workers,” said Prof Horne.
It found that 82.5 per cent of the Irish workforce cited workplace stress as a key cause of their disrupted sleep.
While the majority (74.3 per cent) would like to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, only 34.3 per cent currently achieve this, with most people (51.4 per cent) receiving 5-7 hours sleep.
Last month, sleep expert Els van der Helm – who spoke at the Great Place to Work annual conference in Dublin's Mansion House – said "sleep deprivation is a global epidemic that's hurting us on multiple levels".
Prof van der Helm said that while companies have cottoned on to the advantages of having well-rested employees, the emphasis was on how having a healthy lifestyle could support strong work performance.
“People were eating well, taking exercise and doing things like yoga and training in stress and time management, but were ignorant of the fact that sleep is the foundation for good health and therefore for good performance.”
