If you snooze, you lose.

That old adage may be the key to taking advantage of a great opportunity. But according to the medical community, if you don’t snooze, you’ll surely lose when it comes to being healthy, happy and productive.

Whether Americans care to admit it, the numbers show that sleep, no matter how important it may be, is being regarded as a luxury rather than a necessity.

Costs of losing sleep

The National Sleep Foundation found that 63 percent of the adult population is functioning on dangerously low levels of sleep that affect health, safety and the ability to perform on the job. The study also determined that $100 billion is lost annually in productivity, medical expenses/sick leave, and environmental and property damage as a result of Americans losing or experiencing interrupted sleep.

"America is very much becoming a 24-hour society,” said Dr. Amy Meoli, director of St. John’s Regional Medical Canter’s sleep lab. “With the increasing of industry, the Internet and obligations at home vying for our attention and ability we are just really busy.”

According to Meoli, when people try to stay up a few extra hours to squeeze in last-minute work or cram for an upcoming test, they really aren’t accomplishing as much as they think they are and are sacrificing future potential productivity and efficiency.

“Sleep is restorative mentally as well as physically,” said Meoli. “Depriving our bodies of sleep can have negative effects on our overall mental state, as well as our mood and ability to concentrate.”

While most Americans believe that short naps or sleeping in on the weekends can balance out those long sleepless nights, experts are less than convinced.

“People often think they can get by on little sleep,” said Meoli. “However, the effects of sleep deprivation are apparent even after one long night. It’s not uncommon for a person’s perception of how sleepy they really are to be affected quite quickly.”

Removing distractions

Cynthia Johnson, a registered sleep technician at the Freeman Sleep Clinic, believes that people often jeopardize their ability to get a restful night's sleep by ingesting the wrong types of food, bringing non-sleep-related items into the bedroom and engaging in an irregular sleeping schedule.

Johnson recommends finishing eating at least three hours before heading for bed and restricting fluids to avoid disrupting the body’s deep sleep cycles.