It’s not just aging! Work stress is stealing sleep and wellbeing from older workers. Therefore, healthy aging starts with better sleep and a healthier workplace.
Sleep disturbances are more common in middle-aged and older workers than expected, and are linked to work-related stress and poorer wellbeing, highlights a new study.
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Midlife Workers Face a Growing Sleep Health Crisis
Researchers found that nearly 70 percent of participants experienced persistent, clinically significant sleep problems, despite having no known history of sleep disorders. Even more concerning, almost 92 percent met the clinical threshold for a sleep disorder at least once during the study.
The findings of the study are published in the jounal Scientific Reports (1✔ ✔Trusted Source
Interrelations of work with health and wellbeing on a 50+ year old workforce assessed using longitudinal self-reports and actigraphy
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Work Stress is Stealing Your Sleep and Wellbeing
Many of these sleep problems were closely linked to work-related stress, researchers say. Participants who reported better work-life balance and greater job satisfaction also tended to report better overall wellbeing, while feelings of gloom or irritability at work were associated with poorer wellbeing.
Experts say the findings should encourage employers, policymakers and healthcare providers to place greater emphasis on sleep quality, workplace wellbeing and work-life balance to help workers over 50 remain healthy and economically active for longer.
The year-long study from the University of Edinburgh followed 45 workers aged 50-66 years old from a range of employment sectors. Researchers collected more than 1,900 self-reported wellbeing and workplace assessments alongside over 5,200 days of wearable sensor data.
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It’s Not How Long You Sleep—It’s How Well You Sleep
They found that sleep problems, such as poor sleep quality and awakenings, were common across the participants.
Experts say that sleep in healthy, working adults has been studied less extensively than in clinical populations, with many previous studies focusing on sleep duration or using less detailed monitoring methods, meaning sleep disturbances may have been overlooked.
While participants often attributed poor sleep to not getting enough rest, data collected from wrist-worn devices demonstrates that frequent sleep disturbances and awakenings during the night were more often responsible.
Data from the wearable devices showed that 90 percent of participants experienced sleep disturbances throughout the study, despite most averaging between 6.5 and 8 hours of sleep a night. Researchers say the findings suggest that disrupted sleep, rather than insufficient sleep duration, may explain why many people reported feeling poorly rested.
AI Pinpoints Work Stress as a Key Driver of Sleep Problems
Researchers used artificial intelligence to identify the factors most strongly associated with sleep disruption and wellbeing from a wide range of potential influences. Workplace experiences consistently emerged as one of the most important factors, suggesting that work-related stress may be a key pathway through which work affects both sleep and overall wellbeing.
The study also found that wellbeing was strongly associated with work-life balance and job satisfaction. Participants who reported feeling gloomy, irritated or tense at work consistently reported lower levels of wellbeing, with these associations observed across different employment sectors and regardless of gender.
The findings come as the workforce ages rapidly. Around one in three UK workers is over 50, and the number of people aged over 65 is projected to reach 17.7 million by 2050. As ill health remains one of the leading reasons people leave work before retirement, supporting the health and wellbeing of older workers is increasingly important, experts say.
The findings come from the Supporting Healthy Ageing at Work (SHAW) project – an interdisciplinary research programme led by the University of Edinburgh Business School.
Approaching Retirement? Work-Life Balance Holds the Key to Better Sleep
Study lead Athanasios Tsanas, Professor of Digital Health and Data Science at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, said: “Having spent years analysing data from patients with clinical sleep and mental health disorders, I was genuinely surprised by the sheer scale of sleep problems we uncovered in this otherwise undiagnosed group. Our analysis clearly demonstrates that many of these sleep and wellbeing issues are work-related, with overall wellbeing heavily dependent on sustained work-life balance. By utilising longitudinal smartwatch data, we captured nuanced, previously unexplored patterns. Crucially, these findings point to actionable intervention strategies, offering a roadmap to help people build healthier, more sustainable lives as they get closer to the transition into retirement.”
Hidden Sleep Crisis: Workplace Stress Matters More Than Aging
Dr. Belinda Steffan, Chancellor’s Fellow at University of Edinburgh Business School, said: “While we knew from previous evidence that sleep can influence work, and work can influence sleep, we were surprised by the extent to which our non-clinical study population were struggling with their sleep. While there are certainly some age-related sleep disruptors, such as menopause and bodily aging, there are also many wider factors such as care-related stress, financial stress and wider non-age-specific work-related stress. Our study highlights that sleep is a workplace health and wellbeing issue. Organisations and employers must consider the impact of work-related sleep problems on their workforce, focusing on workers over 50 in the context of our study, but relevant to all age groups.”
Reference:
- Interrelations of work with health and wellbeing on a 50+ year old workforce assessed using longitudinal self-reports and actigraphy – (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-58229-z)
Source-Eurekalert