But striking new research suggests the effect of additional sleep is so powerful that it could actually translate into thousands of dollars in wages. To investigate how sleep affects worker wages, the researchers took advantage of a kind of natural experiment - sunset times across American time zones. Not all of these wage differences are due directly to sleep, the researchers caution. The findings suggest that sleep is a crucial determinant of productivity and wages, "rivalling ability and human capital in importance", the researchers write. Given the huge benefit that more sleep can bring, we should certainly pay more attention to ensuring that workers sleep more, they say.

Source: New Zealand Herald November 14, 2016 16:00 UTC