The dark side of the American work ethic: widespread sleep deprivation, linked to obesity, depression, even early death

Fortune ^ | Mat 4, 2026 | Tristan Bove

[anthropocene_x]

Sleep is critical to being in good health, regulating how people think and informing everything from mood to physical health. But the country’s lack of sleep is a problem for everyone, even for those lucky Americans who are able to get enough shut-eye. In addition to individual health, insufficient sleep creates a drag on medical spending, workplace productivity, and long-term health outcomes. America’s chronic inability to get enough sleep comes with a real cost attached, one that researchers have put in the hundreds of billions of dollars in annual economic losses.

The other culprit is the thing that makes the American economy so great: the rise and grind ethos that sees Americans work far more hours than counterparts in most developed economies. The American work ethic is coming at a steep cost.

The likely reason isn’t hard to find. U.S. workers log around 1,976 hours a year on the job—roughly 400 more than Germans, and significantly more than the French, Canadians, and British, according to ILO data. Northern European countries that sleep the most also tend to work the least. Denmark, where average weekly hours hover around 26, consistently ranks among the world’s most well-rested populations. The U.S. has no statutory cap on weekly work hours at all—federal law only mandates overtime pay after 40 hours, not a hard stop.

[ComputerGuy]

The problem cuts along predictable fault lines. Women, Black adults, lower-income groups, and those with less education are more likely to report short sleep or chronic sleep problems

I thought so.

[webheart]

More likely to report is not quite the same as more likely to experience. The groups they name are the ones that are already more likely to be bitching about something or another. As white male heterosexuals, we are not allowed to complain because toxic masculinity and white privilege.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

So? I spent 31 years working rotating killer shifts I survived. 8 hour backward rotations,(killers!) then 8 hrs forward rotation, then killer 12 hr shifts 6AM-6 PM, then 6 PM to 6 AM. still alive at 79 years of age. Retired 17 years ago, still cannot get to sleep before 12 Midnight but wake up at 5 AM, 6 AM, 7 AM every morning, all my old wake up times going back to 1970 when I worked in a steel fabrication shop before rotating shifts.

[ComputerGuy]

I’m with you on that!

[SpaceBar]

Alcohol is a major contributor to bad sleep patterns.

[Honorary Serb]

The real problem is all those mobile phones, and the 24/7 schedule that they enforce!

We need to go back to the 1970s or 1980s work schedule, and the pre-divorce 1970s family!

[Vaduz]

Weed wine and work never has blended well.

[bert]

Fortune is now and always as been a leftwing rag pretending to be somebody

[SecondAmendment]

I guess they “accidentally” forgot to mention China, but then again slavery isn’t the same as work is it ?

[jimtorr]

The best shifts I ever had came when I was USAF working on a Navy Base. The brass were free to choose which service regulations to use, so chose the most permissive.

We worked 12 hour shifts. Two shifts days, 7 am - 7 pm. 24 hours off. Two shifts nights, 7 pm - 7 am. 48 hours off, then back to day shift. The best of all possible shifts in the military.

A year of that, and since I was the only one who had a clue about the brand new communications computer, the Captain in charge of coms offered me a 4 year controlled tour.

[fruser1]

far more hours than counterparts in most developed economies

i.e. european countries that take the summer off.

[Veto!]

I worked from home for years, editing and sometimes writing books for clients who paid me more than I made at publishing company. And worked my dainty ladylike arse off, sometimes getting zero sleep.

After several years, I was just too very tired to do it. Moved to Florida and spent a lot of time catching up on sleep. And fun. And life in general.

That worked, I’ll be 90 next month, which no one who looks at me believes. Weigh 112, great posture, try to talke a long walk every day. Eat mostly organic foods, Sleep long hours, and my cat does too. Don’t live in FL now, moved to Spokane to be closer to my daughter.

[Resolute Conservative]

“The U.S. has no statutory cap on weekly work hours at all—federal law only mandates overtime pay after 40 hours, not a hard stop.”

Doesn’t help those “on salary” and work 50-60+ hour weeks and are not compensated nor given raises more than the measly COL crap.

[DIRTYSECRET]

I worked half the Saturdays every year after putting in 50 M-F. Made good money and enjoyed the job dealing with customers happy to see me. Installed Cable tv. Wouldn’t trade it for anything. Tired evenings were relaxing with my ball game, Whopper, and bottle of cabernet. Sundays were on the couch watching football. Never volunteered to work Saturdays in the rain. It was a good career and never considered work until management turned it into a job. Still I learned not to take them seriously. Pretty healthy and couldn’t ask for more.

Women came and went. Sex was feast or famine but it is what it is.

[bert]

Great for you!!!

At 84, my motto is Think 90.

[Myrddin]

I worked 40 to 60 hours a week (salaried) from 1980 to 2025. Sometimes 80 hour weeks at a startup. Paid for 40 hours. If you work less, you burn PTO hours to cover your paycheck. In very rare circumstances where the customer demanded longer hours to meet a deadline, there was a concept of "extended workweek". You were paid straight time for the hours beyond the basic 40. That only happened 4 times in 45 years.

I noticed a pattern that the hardest working people also put on a lot of weight. Long hours at the desk with pressing deadlines. Not much time to eat right, exercise or get a proper amount of sleep. All of that brings stress and high cortisol.

While doing contract work for Lufthansa, I learned that German car insurance companies invalidate car insurance if you work beyond the mandated cap. The Lufthansa office spaces cleared promptly at the "end of day". I was there before they arrived for work and long after they departed. It was the reason my company got the contract. There was no way the German employees could work enough hours to finish the tasking by the set deadlines.

[Resolute Conservative]

I worked for a French company for a while (here in US). I had to go to the HQ several times over in Nimes and Grenoble. The employees came to work around 8:30am and at 4:31pm there were no people in the building. The cleaning staff would come in about 4:45 and start shooing everyone out that was lingering and lock the doors.

[simpson96]

Tristan the liberal bemoans hard work. Prefers a more "European" model.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yes, I worked high stress long hours in the mortgage industry for many years then 17 years owning my own mortgage broker firm. Even when I wasn’t at the office I was on call for clients 24/7. Stress up the wazoo. Now I’m retired and still in good shape enjoying life.