Working Paper: NBER ID: w26746
Authors: Pedro Bessone; Gautam Rao; Frank Schilbach; Heather Schofield; Mattie Toma
Abstract: The urban poor in developing countries face challenging living environments, which may interfere with good sleep. Using actigraphy to measure sleep objectively, we find that low-income adults in Chennai, India sleep only 5.5 hours per night on average despite spending 8 hours in bed. Their sleep is highly interrupted, with sleep efficiency—sleep per time in bed—comparable to those with disorders such as sleep apnea or insomnia. A randomized three-week treatment providing information, encouragement, and improvements to home sleep environments increased sleep duration by 27 minutes per night by inducing more time in bed. Contrary to expert predictions and a large body of sleep research, increased nighttime sleep had no detectable effects on cognition, productivity, decision-making, or well-being, and led to small decreases in labor supply. In contrast, short afternoon naps at the workplace improved an overall index of outcomes by 0.12 standard deviations, with significant increases in productivity, psychological well-being, and cognition, but a decrease in work time.
Keywords: sleep deprivation; urban poor; RCT; sleep interventions; productivity; cognition
JEL Codes: C93; D9; I1; I15; O1; O12; O18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increased nighttime sleep duration (J22) | increase in sleep by 27 minutes per night (J22) |
| increased nighttime sleep (J22) | no significant positive effects on cognition, productivity, or wellbeing (J29) |
| increased nighttime sleep (J22) | decrease in labor supply by approximately 9 minutes per day (J22) |
| nap treatment (C45) | improved productivity and psychological wellbeing (J29) |
| nap treatment (C45) | slight reduction in labor supply (J22) |
| low sleep efficiency and frequent awakenings (J22) | lack of benefits from increased nighttime sleep (J22) |