It’s 2am, the lights are off, but you’re wide awake. You stare into the darkness, tossing and turning, counting the minutes until your alarm blares and signals the start of another working day. Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
One in three people in the UK suffer from insomnia and while Margaret Thatcher and Donald Trump claimed to flourish on just four hours snoozing a night, lack of sleep can have a devastating impact on people’s working lives.
A study by Rotterdam School of Management, at Erasmus University in the Netherlands, found disruptive behaviour at work caused by sleep loss can cost companies billions in lost productivity, while a bad night’s kip can have fatal consequences in transportation, emergency services and war. According to the General Medical Council, overworked trainee doctors are often so sleep-deprived that they are in danger of harming patients.
Whether you’re a surgeon or an office worker, we want to hear how insomnia has affected your work. What impact has it had on your ability to do the job? How has it affected your mood? Has it changed your relationships with colleagues? And has it ever led to any serious consequences?
You can submit your contributions anonymously using the online form below, from Monday 24 July until midnight on Thursday 27 July. We will publish an edited selection on the Guardian Careers site, and contributions may also be shared across our social media channels.
To get in touch fill in the encrypted form below – you won’t need to give us your name or the name of where you work – and we’ll publish a selection of responses. Please give us as much detail about your experience as you can, but only include identifying details if you are happy to have them published.
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