3 ways sleeping can help you get rich and save money

[Editorial note: I have posted the solution to the Monday puzzle in my comment here]

At Stanford and in my office job, most people viewed sleep as wasted time. They would have preferred the time to be spent studying, exercising, or simply doing anything else. In fact, some people did just that, bragging about all-nighters and sleepless work nights.

I never understood the insane work ethic and utter disregard for sleep. I was raised with a healthy appreciation for sleep, and I felt weird having to constantly defend my right to a solid night’s rest.

As common sense did not work, I looked for more direct bottom-line arguments. The more I looked the more I found sleep can play a big role in healthy finances. Here are three of the ways sleep can help you financially.

1. Sleep can fuel a billion dollar idea

I had heard that sleep can facilitate creative thought. But I didn’t realize how important this was until I did some digging.

It turns out that sleep played a major role in the founding of Google. Here is the story:

If you want great success, start by dreaming it. Literally.

Google co-founder Larry Page revealed in his 2009 commencement address to the University of Michigan that the basic platform for google was based on a sleep dream he had in college.

Page, then 23, took the source material of his dream and worked it and worked it.

via Roger Ziegler, NY Wellness Examiner

Surely there have been countless other great ideas that came from the result of sleep. The lesson is that sleep is not a slothful activity: your mind can be active and sleep is part of the recipe for coming up with great ideas.

2. Poor sleep costs millions in lost productivity

People who ignore sleep do so at a peril to their job and company.

Fatigue and loss of concentration can interfere with work. One study estimated these costs and found lost productivity was in the millions.

Writing in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the researchers estimated that lost productivity due to poor sleep cost … $54 million a year [across four big employers]. This doesn’t include the cost of absenteeism–those with insomnia missed work an extra five days a year compared to good sleepers.

via Harvard Business School’s Your Health at Work

Your boss may not believe that rest is good for the company bottom line, but at least you’ll know the truth.

3. Sleep debt leads to reckless financial decisions

Most people realize that sleep causes inattention and fatigue, so they take steps to counter that. They will load up on caffeine or energy drinks to feel alert.

While this can help, sleep deprivation has more subtle damaging effects.

A recent study from Duke University found that lack of sleep can actually affect how people make decisions. The results were quite interesting:

Sleep-deprived individuals in the study tended to make choices that emphasized monetary gain, and were less likely to make choices that reduced loss…

This is the first study to show that sleep deprivation can change the way the brain assesses economic value, independent of its effects on vigilant attention.
via Medical News Today

The researchers noted the effects can be amplified in casinos: late-night gamblers face bad odds and they are tempted by the gains due to lack of sleep.

You can fool yourself that you’re not tired, but your body and mind are still not at 100 percent.

Do yourself and your wallet a favor: get some rest and work at your best.