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Arianna Huffington writes in her new book, “The Sleep Revolution“: “Death from overwork has its own word in Japanese (karoshi), in Chinese (guolaosi), and in Korean (gwarosa). No such word exists in English, but the casualties are all around us. And though this is an extreme example of the consequences of not getting enough sleep, sleep deprivation has become an epidemic.”

The founder of the Huffington Post has been on a mission to raise awareness around sleep deprivation — and the importance of getting enough sleep.

Huffington adds: “According to a recent Gallup poll, 40 percent of all American adults are sleep-deprived, clocking significantly less than the recommended minimum seven hours of sleep per night. Getting enough sleep, says Dr. Judith Owens, the director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children’s Hospital, is ‘just as important as good nutrition, physical activity, and wearing your seat belt.' But most people hugely underestimate their need for sleep. That’s why sleep, says Dr. Michael Roizen, the chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic, ‘is our most underrated health habit.' A National Sleep Foundation report backs this up: two-thirds of us are not getting enough sleep on weeknights. ”

And the lack of sleep is more than just a personal problem. Companies and workplaces should consider the bottom line costs when employees don't sleep sufficiently.

Huffington reports: “It is industrialization, for all its benefits, that has exacerbated our flawed relationship with sleep on such a massive scale. We sacrifice sleep in the name of productivity, but, ironically, our loss of sleep, despite the extra hours we put in at work, adds up to more than eleven days of lost productivity per year per worker, or about $2,280. This results in a total annual cost of sleep deprivation to the US economy of more than $63 billion, in the form of absenteeism and presenteeism (when employees are present at work physically but not really mentally focused). ‘Americans are not missing work because of insomnia,' said Harvard Medical School professor Ronald C. Kessler. ‘They are still going to their jobs, but they’re accomplishing less because they’re tired. In an information-based economy, it’s difficult to find a condition that has a greater effect on productivity.'”

Huffington will offer a keynote address at the 2016 Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress and the National Sleep Foundation’s First Annual Sleep Works Summit at the EHBC, September 25-28, 2016 in Washington D.C.

Says Jonathan Edelheit, editor-in-chief, Corporate Wellness Magazine: “Getting more sleep is not a nemesis to business success as many think. “Having Arianna keynote our congress and share her story on why this is true is essential for our attendees. Corporate Wellness includes all facets of a person’s life—financial, mental, emotional, and physical—and sleep plays a critical role to support all of these. The impact she makes on the world is tremendous, and we are thrilled to have her at this year’s event.”