One extra hour in bed a week could increase your annual salary by 5%

November 14, 2016

Researchers looked at time zones where sunsets vary from east to west
Those with an earlier sunset earned £1,252 ($1,570) more a year on average
A area with a one-hour earlier sunrise also has an average home value that is six per cent higher than other areas

Shivali Best For Mailonline

Published:
09:58 EST, 14 November 2016

|
Updated:
10:39 EST, 14 November 2016

e-mail

View
comments

After a restless night, you can find yourself struggling to concentrate at work the next day.

But it appears that a lack of sleep could be more costly than ever realised.

A new study suggests that additional time sleeping can raise your salary by thousands.

It appears that a lack of sleep could be more costly than ever realised. A new study suggests that additional time sleeping can raise your salary by thousands of pounds (stock image)

SLEEP AND SALARY

The researchers took advantage of the varying sunset times across the US, to perform their experiment.

Previous studies have shown that early sunsets in winter cause people to naturally sleep longer.

In contrast with this, when the sun sets an hour earlier, people tend to sleep about 20 minutes less per week.

The researchers focused on individual time zones, where sunset time vary substantially from east to west.

Because there shouldn’t be significant differences between workers across the time zone, other than the amount of time they sleep, researchers used this variation to estimate how much sleep affects wages.

Their results showed that an hour of extra sleep each week increases wages by five per cent, which equates to an additional $1,570 (£1,252) a year.

Researchers from Williams College in Massachusetts and the University of California at San Diego say that a one-hour increase in sleep each week can raise wages by about half as much as an additional year of education.

In their paper, Matthew Gibson and Jeffrey Shrader, who led the study, wrote: ‘These results suggest that sleep is a crucial determinant of wages, rivaling ability and human capital in importance.’

But it isn’t simply a case of squeezing in an extra hour and expecting the money to roll in.

Instead, it is more a subtle interaction between how people schedule their lives, how much time they have to sleep, and how that affects their performance at work.

The researchers took advantage of the varying sunset times across the US, to perform their experiment.

Previous studies have shown that early sunsets in winter cause people to naturally sleep longer.

In contrast with this, when the sun sets an hour later, people tend to sleep about 20 minutes less per week.

The researchers focused on individual time zones, where sunset times vary substantially from east to west.

Adult FriendFinder is HACKED: Love rats¿ dirty secrets may…

Sex with robots will be ‘mind blowing’: Expert says androids…

Move over Spotify: Google Play Music now knows what you want…

Bathroom breakthrough as researchers reveal ‘splash free’…

To assess what time people across the time zone went to sleep after sunset and woke up, the researchers used data collected from Jawbone fitness trackers.

Their results showed that an hour of extra sleep each week increases wages by five per cent, which equates to an additional $1,570 (£1,252) a year for the average American.

This difference in wage can also affect the local economy, and even home values.

The researchers focused on time zones where sunset times vary from east to west. Because there shouldn’t be differences between workers across the time zone, other than the amount of time they sleep, researchers used this variation to estimate how much sleep affects wages

The results showed that a county with a one-hour earlier sunrise has an average of six per cent higher home value, which is roughly $7,900 to $8,800 (£6,304 to £7,022).

But the researchers warn that there could be factors at play, other than sleep.

They suggest that if workers around you are having better sleep, and therefore being more productive at work, it could rub off on you, making you more productive too.

The researchers added: ‘Our wage regressions demonstrate that sleep has a powerful impact on labor market outcomes and should be considered an integral part of a worker’s utility maximisation problem.’

COULD BLUE LIGHTS REPLACE A DAILY CUP OF COFFEE?

Blue light has been getting a bad reputation lately for its role in disrupting sleep.

Smartphones and other gadgets used before bed can cause restless nights because their light causes melatonin suppression – a chemical which controls the body clock.

But there are some positives, according to a recent study, that looks at how blue light can make the brain more alert if it is used at the right time.

Researchers at Mid Sweden University compared the effects of caffeine and blue light on the brain and found them both to have a positive effect.

Interestingly, people exposed to blue light performed better on tests of brain function that included a distraction.

The same distraction, however, proved too much for caffeine users, who performed poorly.

‘Blue light and caffeine demonstrated distinct effects on aspects of psychomotor function,’ said the authors of the report. ‘It has the potential to positively influence a range of settings where cognitive function and alertness are important.’