Nearly one quarter of people experienced fatigue or exhaustion as a result of their lack of sleep, 10 per cent suffered insomnia and 19 per cent had their dreams interrupted by their partner snoring.
The findings were based on a Roy Morgan survey commissioned by the recently formed Sleep Health Foundation, which is calling for the federal government to make sleep a national priority like exercise and a healthy diet.
The foundation's chair Dr David Hillman said it appeared many Australians believed sleep was a waste of time without realising the impact a lack of shut-eye can have on their health.
Not enough sleep makes people less productive at work, more prone to accidents and irritable, he said.
"The thing that concerns us is that people aren't making particularly good choices about how to prioritise sleep," said Dr Hillman, who heads the pulmonary physiology and sleep medicine department at Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
"Lots of people think that sleep is a waste of time. But it's not wasted time, it's time well spent."
Dr Hillman said part of the problem was the amount of time people stayed up late using the internet, social media, electronic games and mobile phones.
As a result they were less refreshed in the morning, which often affected their emotions and their ability to work.
The foundation has backed calls by Dr Christine Bennett, the chair of the new Australian Preventive Health Agency who wants sleep made a national health issue.
Dr Hillman said having a government policy on sleep would stress the importance of making getting enough rest a priority in people's daily lives.
"It's a bit of a misconception that going very short of sleep is making you more productive," he said.
"You can catch up on it but in the mean time you haven't worked as well or done things as well as you really could have."
- AAP
