TV-watching was ranked only 9th in the list of activities exchanged for less sleep.
The researchers found no difference in sleep time between private sector and government workers. But interestingly, the self-employed had significantly lower odds of being a short sleeper. This finding led to the researchers prescribing greater flexibility in work schedules, particularly in work start time, as one policy change that could help people sleep more: “making the work start time more flexible may help increase sleep time; even if total time spent working is kept constant,” they conclude.
They also found that for every hour work or class started later in the morning, respondents’ reported getting 20 minutes more sleep. More flexibility in work start times would thus help people naturally disposed to night-owl hours (are you a night-owl? We’ve got a quiz for that). Research suggests that this would lead not only to more productivity in the workplace, but also fewer instances of ethical lapses while on the clock.
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