Employers wary of sickness absence levels might want to encourage their staff to go to bed early as research suggests that 11% of sick days are down to a lack of sleep.
On average, UK adults get 6 hours and 12 minutes of sleep a night – less than the NHS recommended 7-9 hours. This, as well as waking up on average twice per night, means a third (36%) do not feel like they are getting enough quality sleep most nights.
Research by life assurance company Canada Life of UK sleeping habits showed that 16% of people feel unable to maintain good physical and mental health as a result of poor sleep, and nearly two-thirds (63%) feel the desire to nap at some point during the day.
The survey, carried out by Opinium among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults, found that 36% of respondents do not feel like they are getting enough sleep, with 21% saying bad nights are caused by physical conditions or illness, and 17% because of poor mental health.
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A quarter of the sample (24%) admitted to staying up too late and 14% attributed a poor night’s sleep to using their mobile phone or other devices in bed.
For one in six (15%) workers, this means they have had to take on average three sick days from work in the last 12 months. This means lack of sleep leads to 14.4 million days of sickness every year.
John Kendall, senior rehabilitation consultant at Canada Life said that sleep underpins everything people do, forming the basis of how we feel, our health, relationships and professional lives.
“If we can get sleep right, we are more resilient to the hurdles that life throws our way, and we can improve our health and wellness, the quality of our relationships, and how we perform at work,” he said.
“Employers can play an important role in giving employees access to the right kind of help to improve their sleep and therefore, their overall wellbeing. Benefits like providing access to virtual GPs and support services can play a huge role.”
While 30% of people surveyed have sought help to address their lack of sleep, 70% have not. Of those who have tried to improve their sleep, 45% have taken sleeping pills or medication, 36% have spoken to an NHS doctor, 32% have tried meditation or mindfulness, 29% have used alternative or herbal medicine and 23% used an app.
Canada Life’s mental wellbeing app, myStrength, available to employees of companies with its workplace protection policy, offers access to modules based on cognitive behavioural therapy, specifically designed to help people get a good night’s sleep. Kendall added that sleep improvement is the app’s most accessed and completed module.
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