Sleep deprivation costs American businesses about 1.2 million employee workdays and roughly $411 billion in revenue a year, according to a report from the RAND Corp. That lost productivity in the form of sleepy workers shaves an estimated 2.3 percent off the country's GDP each year. Though sleep deprivation is a worldwide problem, it's especially bad in the United States, where employment regulation and working culture might not be as sleep-friendly as European Union countries, for example.