Sleep problems may be far more widespread among mid-to-later life workers than clinicians and policymakers assumed, according to a year-long study that connects work-related stress with both sleep disruption and broader measures of wellbeing. The research reports that almost 70% of participants experienced persistent, clinically significant sleep difficulties despite having no previously diagnosed sleep disorder.
Even more striking, nearly 92% of the cohort met criteria for a sleep disorder at least once during the study period. Rather than appearing as occasional complaints, sleep disturbances emerged as a recurring pattern across the working week and beyond, suggesting that undiagnosed issues could be accumulating silently over time.
A key finding is that many sleep symptoms closely tracked psychosocial workplace factors. Participants reporting stronger job satisfaction and better work-life balance tended to report better overall wellbeing. In contrast, feelings of gloom, irritability, or tension at work were consistently linked to worse wellbeing outcomes.
To capture sleep with higher resolution than traditional surveys, the team followed 45 workers aged 50–66 across multiple employment sectors. They collected more than 1,900 self-reported assessments of wellbeing and work experiences alongside over 5,200 days of wrist-worn wearable sensor data. This approach enabled the researchers to examine not only how long people slept, but how frequently sleep was disrupted.
Although most participants averaged between 6.5 and 8 hours per night, wearable data indicated that 90% experienced sleep disturbances throughout the monitoring period. The results suggest that disrupted sleep quality and night awakenings—rather than insufficient time in bed—may explain why many people felt poorly rested.
Using artificial intelligence to sift through a broad set of candidate influences, researchers identified workplace experiences as one of the strongest correlates of both sleep disruption and wellbeing. The analysis supports a pathway in which work stress reshapes sleep, which in turn influences wellbeing, reinforcing the idea that workplace health must extend to night-time recovery.
The study argues that prior sleep research in healthy working adults may have overlooked clinically relevant disturbances by relying on sleep duration alone or using less detailed monitoring. Here, longitudinal smartwatch-like measurements revealed nuanced patterns that would likely be missed in cross-sectional designs.
As populations age rapidly, maintaining health and economic participation among older workers becomes increasingly urgent. With around one in three UK workers over 50—and projections indicating large growth in those aged over 65—interventions targeting sleep and workplace wellbeing may become a public health priority.
The findings come from the Supporting Healthy Ageing at Work (SHAW) project led by the University of Edinburgh Business School. The study is published in Scientific Reports and was supported by UKRI’s Healthy Ageing Challenge Social, Behavioural and Design Research Programme.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Not provided
News Publication Date: 28-Jul-2026
Web References: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-58229-z
References: Not provided
Image Credits: Not provided
Keywords: sleep disturbances; workplace stress; wellbeing; work-life balance; wearable sensors; AI analysis; ageing workers; observational study
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