New York, Dec 12 (IANS): A study has suggested that people are exchanging paid work with their sleeping time and a chronic sleep loss can be prevented with flexible working hours.

The study's results were collected from responses given by 1,24,517 Americans who completed the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) over eight years. Participants' responses captured 99.1 percent of the past 24 hours.

"The evidence that time spent working was the most prominent sleep thief was overwhelming," said Mathias Basner, lead author from the University of Pennsylvania, the US.

Compared to the normal sleepers, short sleepers, who reported sleeping six hours or less worked 1.5 hours more on weekdays and 1.86 hours more on weekends or holidays.

Adults working in multiple jobs, are 61 percent more likely to report sleeping six hours or less on weekdays.

It was observed that short sleepers also travelled more, they started travelling early morning, and stopped later in the evening than normal sleepers.

"Getting at least seven hours of nightly sleep is essential to be at your mental, emotional and physical best for whatever you will pour yourself into, either at work or at home," said Timothy Morgenthaler, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Also, planning work or training just an hour later in the day, increased sleep time by 20 minutes.

The results were published in the journal Sleep.