Hidden sleep crisis affecting older workers

A hidden sleep crisis may be affecting far more older workers than employers realise, with new research revealing that nearly seven in 10 employees aged over 50 experience persistent, clinically significant sleep problems despite having no diagnosed sleep disorder.

The year-long study by the University of Edinburgh followed 45 employees aged between 50 and 66 from a range of industries, combining more than 5,200 days of smartwatch data with almost 1,900 wellbeing and workplace assessments. Researchers found that almost 92 per cent of participants met the clinical threshold for a sleep disorder at least once during the study.

Crucially, the research suggests work-related stress is a significant driver of poor sleep, with work-life balance and job satisfaction emerging as two of the strongest predictors of overall wellbeing.

Rather than simply sleeping for fewer hours, many participants experienced repeated disturbances throughout the night. Data collected from wearable devices showed that 90 per cent experienced disrupted sleep despite typically sleeping between 6.5 and eight hours each night, suggesting sleep quality may be a greater issue than sleep duration for many workers.

Using artificial intelligence to analyse a wide range of health, behavioural and workplace factors, researchers found workplace experiences consistently ranked among the strongest influences on both sleep disruption and wellbeing.

Employees who reported feeling gloomy, tense or irritable at work were significantly more likely to report lower levels of wellbeing, while those with better work-life balance and higher job satisfaction consistently experienced better wellbeing outcomes.

The findings come as the UK’s workforce continues to age. Around one in three UK workers is now aged over 50, while the number of people aged over 65 is expected to reach 17.7 million by 2050. Supporting employees to remain healthy and economically active for longer is becoming an increasingly important challenge for employers.

Professor Athanasios Tsanas, professor of digital health and data science at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute and lead author of the study, said he was surprised by the scale of sleep problems uncovered among an otherwise healthy working population.

He said the research demonstrated that many of the sleep and wellbeing issues identified were work-related and highlighted practical opportunities for employers to support healthier and more sustainable working lives as employees approach retirement.

Dr Belinda Steffan, Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh Business School, added that while previous research had established links between sleep and work, the extent of sleep disruption among workers without diagnosed sleep disorders was unexpected.

She said the findings reinforce that sleep should be viewed as a workplace health issue rather than simply a personal health concern, with employers needing to consider how work-related stress, alongside wider pressures such as caring responsibilities and financial concerns, affects workforce wellbeing.

The findings form part of the Supporting Healthy Ageing at Work (SHAW) project and have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.