If you’re partying the night away and then hitting the snooze button endlessly the next day, you may be doing your career a disservice.

Many entrepreneurs and CEOs at the top of their games are morning people, and that’s one of the reasons for their success, maintained Laura Vanderkam, author of “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast.” 

“Successful people know mornings are a great time for getting things done, before other peoples’ priorities invade,” she explained. “So you can focus on important things.”

She offered a few examples of successful early risers:

• Steve Reinemund, the former CEO of PepsiCo who's now the dean of Wake Forest University's business school, gets up around 5 a.m. to run four miles 
• Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project," gets up at 6 a.m. to do an hour of work before her family wakes. She plans her day, does scheduling, social media, etc. 

Indeed, being a morning person may make you happy, or at least less grumpy. According to a study released earlier this month from the University of Toronto, “early risers are happier and healthier than people who like to stay up late.” 

Unfortunately, becoming a morning person if you’re a committed night owl is easier said than done.

If you want to change your nocturnal ways, Vanderkan suggested taking it slowly.

“Go to bed 15 minutes earlier and wake up 15 minutes earlier each day, until it starts to become a habit,” she advised.

More than half of office workers don't consistently get a good night's sleep

Home health aides have long had the distinction of being among the lowest-paid workers in the United States, but now it's revealed they also get the least amount of sleep.

Concern over finances and an overall stressful job may be keeping home health aides up at night; but lawyers also made the list of sleep-deprived occupations. 

A new study of professions that get the least and most amount of sleep was commissioned by a mattress company and based on a survey done for the National Center for Health Statistics. The research found health aides, lawyers and police officers got the least  sleep, while loggers, hairstylists and sales representatives were the among the most-rested workers.

“We encourage people to take stock of their sleep habits and make improvements where they can,” said Robert Oexman, director of the Sleep to Live Institute in Joplin, Mo., and a consultant for Sleepy's, the mattress company behind the study.

Here’s a rundown of the sleepiest workers based on average amount of sleep per night:

1. Home Health Aides

2. Lawyers

3. Police Officers

4. Physicians, Paramedics

5. Economists

6. Social Workers

7. Computer Programmers

8. Financial Analysts

9. Plant Operators

10. Secretaries

And here are the workers that get the most shut-eye:

1. Forest, Logging Workers

2. Hairstylists

3. Sales Representatives

4. Bartenders

5. Construction Workers

6. Athletes

7. Landscapers

8. Engineers

9. Aircraft Pilots

10. Teachers

Overall, nobody seems to getting a lot of sleep no matter what they do. Even loggers, who topped the list, only clocked an average of seven hours and 20 minutes sleeping, compared with  six hours and 57 minutes for the sleepiest workers, home health aides.

Related: Home health care industry fights overtime proposal 

What’s so important about getting enough sleep anyway?

Turns out, a lot. Two Harvard Medical School studies found that insomnia does a number on your productivity, and a lack of sleep can affect your health. 

You could make up the difference by napping at work. A 2011 study from the National Sleep Foundation and Philips Electronics found that one in four employees admitted taking a nap at work.

That study also found:

• 85 percent of office workers say they could be more productive if they slept more.
• More than half of office workers don't consistently get a good night's sleep.
• Two-thirds of office workers surveyed said lack of sleep means their day begins on a low note.
• Two-thirds of employees do not wake up before their alarm goes off and more than one-third are not ready to get up when their alarm goes off.

First off, boss, if you are reading this, we NEVER do this.

Secondly, if you are among the more than one-third of the adult U.S. population that gets less than seven hours of sleep a night, you might want to read up.

Lifehacker offers up some tips on how to catch some shuteye at work (and a very pertinent video of George Costanza sleeping under his desk). Among the points covered:

• Use your private office.
• Make use of blinds.
• Wear sunglasses.
• Use your car.
• Use the bathroom.
• What to do if you get caught.
• Ask for permission.

We're not sure about all of them (our bathroom at work certainly isn't set up for naps). Especially the ask for permission.

Do you ever steal a nap at work?

(Thanks for fark.com's biz page for pointing it out.)