Crying Babies Can Reduce Income by 11% an Hour

Parents of young infants know too well how difficult it is to a full night’s sleep. Almost 50% of all parents with young children sleep at least one hour less every night. Now there’s a research that crying babies can reduce household income by 11% an hour.

The Telegraph reported: “The sleep deprivation experienced by parents when a newborn arrives not only frazzles their nerves, but can also seriously harm their bank balance, a new study suggests. Researchers from the London School of Economics (LSE) found that when parents are frequently worken by babies they are less likely to hold down a job, more likely to work shorter hours and consequently earn less than before the birth. In fact, just one hour less sleep each night can reduce household income by up to 11 per cent, say the study authors, with the impact accumulating with more time spent awake.”

“Lack of sleep is responsible for human fatigue, and can undermine economic performance,” said Dr Costa-Font who presented the research at the Royal Society of Economics annual conference in Bristol. The study found a strong relationship between the number of times a child woke up in the night and income over time. As parents achieved less sleep at night, so their incomes plummeted. “To our knowledge, this is the first paper that finds a link between child sleep quality and parental economic performance,” added co author Dr Sarah Fleche.

Lack of sleep can have far-reaching effects including health and productivity. Reduced sleep increases risk of death. A recent study concluded that lack of sleep among U.S. workers cost the nation’s economy as much as $411 billion a year. That’s more than 2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

According to the Gallup poll, Americans currently average 6.8 hours of sleep at night, down more than an hour from 1942. As much as 40% Americans get less than seven hours of sleep per day. Researchers have related a lack of sleep to health problems and financial issues. As a result, experts typically recommend seven to nine hours sleep for adults.