Yawning at work?

 Lack of sleep among working people is almost an epidemic. Nearly 60 percent of employees think they don't get enough sleep, and 20 percent have actually called in sick just to catch up on sleep. That's the word from CareerBuilder.com and the Harris Poll, which surveyed more than 3,200 workers nationwide across industries in the private sector. Perhaps the greatest consequence of our national sleep deficit is that a whopping 61 percent say their lack of sleep has a negative impact on the work they do. Facts to know and tell from the sleep survey:

• Forty-four percent of workers say thinking about work keeps them up at night. 
• While eight hours may be the doctor-recommended amount of sleep time each night, only 16 percent of workers say they actually reach this goal. The majority of workers (63 percent) log an average of six to seven hours of sleep each night during the workweek, while one in five (21 percent) average five hours or less. 
• Two in five workers (43 percent) have caught someone else sleeping at work. 

If you don't snooze, you lose! Sleep-deprivation doesn't just hurt workers. It hurts business, too. Three in five workers (61 percent) say lack of sleep has had an impact on their work in some way, including the following:

It makes the day go by slower: 30 percent
It makes me less motivated: 27 percent
It makes me less productive: 24 percent
It affects my memory: 17 percent
It makes me crabby with co-workers: 13 percent
It takes me longer to complete tasks: 13 percent
It makes me make mistakes: 13 percent