Middle-aged adults who sleep longer than the NHS recommends — more than nine hours — or who regularly wake during the night are more likely to leave the workforce early, according to new research. The findings suggest that supporting good sleep could help people stay in work longer.
Two studies of Finnish workers
Two studies of workers aged 50 to 68 in Finland showed that less well-off individuals who slept too much appeared most likely to have to quit work early. The first study tracked 70,000 public sector staff from 2000 to 2016, and the second followed 6,071 working-age adults from 1998 to 2013.
Data on sleep was collected and participants were categorised as short sleepers (under seven hours), mid-range (seven to eight and a half hours), or long sleepers (nine or more hours).
Working life expectancy differences
The longest working life expectancy was around 13 years and seven months among men and women in professional roles with short sleep lengths. The shortest was six years and five months, among men in routine jobs with low education levels who slept more than nine hours a night.
Sleep disturbances included problems falling or staying asleep and waking too early. People who reported no disturbances had a working life expectancy of 13 years and five months. This compared with 13 years among those moderately disturbed two to four nights a week, and 12 years and 10 months among those whose sleep was disturbed almost every night.
Implications for workplace support
The longest working life expectancy — almost 14 years — was among professional women who reported no sleep disturbances. The shortest — almost 12.5 years — was among men with severe sleep disturbances.
Author Dr Saana Myllyntausta, of the University of Turku in Finland, said: "To promote older adults' participation in working life, supporting sleep of recommended length and good quality may be required."
She added: "Promoting sleep health and providing support for managing sleep disturbances at midlife may be especially important for those with a lower socioeconomic status when aiming to increase workforce participation with advancing age. This could include cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia delivered by occupational health services or workplace interventions, such as educational or health promotion interventions for sleep."
The findings, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, follow a separate study that found nine in 10 people over 50 struggle with their sleep. Edinburgh University conducted a year-long study of workers aged 50 to 66 and found 92% met the clinical threshold for a sleep disorder at least once. Among the 45 participants, the main sleep problem was episodes of waking after falling asleep, rather than sleep duration. Almost 70% experienced persistent, clinically significant sleep problems, despite having no diagnosed history of sleep disorders.
