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Severe sleep disorders can shorten a person’s working life by up to nine months after age 50
Severe sleep disturbances or excessively long nighttime sleep can shorten the expected working life of people over 50 by up to nine months. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the University of Turku in Finland
The researchers used data from the Finnish Public Sector and Health and Social Support studies and surveyed participants about their sleep after they turned 50. Sleep disturbances were defined as difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, waking up too early, and not feeling rested after sleep during the four weeks prior to the survey
Compared to participants without sleep disturbances, people with moderate sleep disturbances could expect nearly five fewer months of employment between the ages of 50 and 68. For severe sleep disorders, this figure was eight months shorter—regardless of gender or job type
The researchers categorized nightly sleep duration into short (less than seven hours), moderate (seven to 8.5 hours), and long (nine hours or more). For short and moderate sleep durations, the expected length of working life after age 50 was 13 years and two months, while for people who slept at least nine hours per night, it was 12 years and five months
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The longest expected working life—nearly 14 years—was found among women in professional positions without sleep disorders. The shortest—nearly 12 and a half years—was found among men in routine jobs with severe sleep disorders. Women without sleep problems aged 50 to 68 had a longer expected working life than men with the same sleep patterns
Study lead author Saana Myllyntäusti noted that the researchers were surprised by the lack of a difference between short and average sleep duration. At the same time, long sleep duration was associated with a shorter expected working life and, according to previous studies, may be linked to worse health outcomes. The authors emphasized the importance of maintaining healthy sleep in middle age, particularly for people with lower socioeconomic status.
The researchers noted that they did not account for a number of factors that could have influenced the results: physical and mental health, existing medical conditions, health-risky behaviors, and working conditions, particularly shift work
