No Sleep, No Sex for Drowsy Employees

Working Too Long: Have you lost your sex drive? Maybe your job is to blame. The National Sleep Foundation, in a poll released this month, cites prolonged workdays—including time spent working from home—for causing U.S. employees to “fall asleep or feel sleepy at work, drive [while] drowsy and lose interest in sex.” The Washington-based organization says people are working longer hours, including average workdays of 9.5 hours, topped with an additional 4.5 hours each week working at home. More than one-fourth (28 percent) say lack of sleep interferes with their daily activities.

Deprived of sleep, nearly 30 percent are nodding off on the job, while 36 percent say they have fallen into slumber behind the wheel of a car. More than one-quarter say they drive drowsy during the workday and 12 percent said they have been tardy to work due to lack of sleep. Nearly one in five employees “have sex less often or have lost interest in sex” because they are too sleepy.

For the most part, employees are muddling through. Nearly two-thirds are “very likely to just accept their sleepiness and keep going.” Another 32 percent fuel their bodies and brains with caffeinated beverages. More than half (54 percent) rely on the weekends to try to catch up on lost sleep.