The Hidden ROI of a Good Night’s Sleep
Good sleep builds more than health. It builds wealth.
Sleep and Earnings: Why Rest Pays Off
Think of sleep not as lost time, but as an investment that compounds. Research shows that every additional hour of nightly sleep is linked to higher wages. One study found that a one-hour increase in long-term average sleep is associated with a 16 percent rise in earnings, roughly equal to the value of an extra year of education.¹
Other research estimates that new sleep problems in adults cost around $500 per person each year in lost productivity.² Over a career, that adds up. Sleep isn’t a luxury; it’s one of the most reliable ways to improve your earning potential.
How Sleep Quality Affects Income and Life Satisfaction
Getting enough rest doesn’t just make you feel better; it correlates with better health and higher income. Adults who sleep seven to nine hours each night are more than twice as likely to rate their health as excellent compared to those sleeping fewer than seven hours.³
The same study found that over half of healthy sleepers earned more than $50,000 annually, compared with significantly lower rates among those who reported short or irregular sleep.³ What this shows is that quality and consistency matter as much as quantity. People who maintain steady, restorative sleep routines tend to have higher energy levels, better focus, and stronger emotional regulation, which directly influence productivity and performance over time. In other words, when sleep becomes a dependable habit rather than an afterthought, it supports every system that drives success.
The Hidden Costs: Health, Accidents, and Lost Productivity
When sleep suffers, the economic fallout spreads quickly. Inadequate sleep is estimated to cost the U.S. economy up to $411 billion every year, or about two percent of GDP.⁴ That includes lost workdays, errors, and accidents.
Workers with chronic sleep problems are 60 percent more likely to be injured on the job than those who sleep well.⁵ Beyond safety, poor sleep raises the risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, which further reduce lifetime earnings and drive up health costs.⁶
The takeaway: short-changing your sleep is like taking out a high-interest loan against your future productivity.
Rethinking Sleep as a Controllable Expense
Many people treat sleep as a trade-off. More time awake means more time to get ahead, right? The math doesn’t support it. Insomnia alone costs the U.S. workforce over $63 billion per year in lost productivity.⁷
Sleep issues contribute to roughly seven percent of costly workplace errors and nearly a quarter of their total financial impact.⁸ Poor sleep behaves like an expense that grows quietly in the background until it shows up as fatigue, burnout, or missed opportunity.
Sleep as a Smart Investment
Flip the equation: sleep isn’t downtime. Sleep is simply maintenance for your most valuable asset: YOU. Quality rest strengthens focus, creativity, and decision-making. Economists have quantified it: a one-hour increase in average weekly sleep is linked to a 1.5 percent short-term wage boost and nearly five percent long-term growth.⁹
That’s a better return than most financial investments. The more consistently you protect your sleep, the greater the benefits across your career, health, and relationships.
Turning Knowledge into Action
Here are a few ways to turn the science of sleep economics into real results:
Budget your sleep hours. Aim for seven to nine hours nightly and treat it like a non-negotiable appointment.
Measure your return. Pay attention to focus, patience, and output after quality sleep versus poor sleep.
Evaluate the trade-offs. If you’re tempted to cut sleep for work, consider how the next day’s fatigue might erase any gain.
Prioritize quality. Deep, restorative sleep is more valuable than long but restless nights.¹⁰
Your body is the best investment vehicle you’ll ever have, and sleep is its compounding interest.
How Brik Sleep Gummies Fit Into the Equation
Science makes it clear: better sleep delivers better returns. But for many people, “just sleep more” isn’t that simple. Stress, screen time, and daily cortisol spikes can make winding down at night feel impossible.
That’s where Brik Sleep Gummies come in. Each gummy contains PeptiSleep™, a naturally derived, plant-based peptide clinically shown to improve sleep quality and help you wake up feeling refreshed. Our gummies don’t sedate you; they support the body’s own sleep systems to help you fall asleep naturally, stay asleep longer, and wake up clear-headed.
It’s sleep with real returns. A small nightly investment that yields energy, focus, and performance every day.
References
¹ Gibson, M., & Shrader, J. (2014). Time Use and Productivity: The Wage Returns to Sleep. National Bureau of Economic Research.
² Kessler, R. C., et al. (2011). The Effects of Sleep Problems on Work Performance. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
³ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Short Sleep Duration Among US Adults. cdc.gov
⁴ RAND Corporation. Why Sleep Matters: The Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep. (2016)
⁵ Uehli, K., et al. (2014). Sleep Problems and Work Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews.
⁶ Harvard Medical School. Sleep and Health. health.harvard.edu
⁷ American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Insomnia Costs U.S. Workforce $63 Billion Annually. (2011)
⁸ Deloitte Access Economics. Asleep on the Job: Costs of Inadequate Sleep in the Workplace. (2017)
⁹ Walker, M. (2017). Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Scribner.
¹⁰ Sleep Foundation. Stages of Sleep and Why Deep Sleep Matters. sleepfoundation.org
