Poor sleep among employees has contributed to 11% of sick days in the last year, according to research from Canada Life.
The research commissioned by Canada Life and conducted by Opinium, with a nationally representative sample of 2000 UK adults, found on average, UK adults get 6 hours and 12 minutes of sleep a night – less than the NHS recommended 7 to 9 hours.
This was in addition to waking up twice a night on average, meaning a third (36%) did not feel like they were getting enough quality sleep most nights.
More than one in six (16%) felt they were unable to keep good physical and mental health as a result of poor sleep, and 63% felt the desire to nap at some point during the day.
For one in six (15%) UK workers, this meant having to take on average three sick days from work in the last 12 months. This means lack of sleep leads to 14.4 million sick days every year.
Reasons given for poor sleep were far reaching, with 24% admitting they stay up too late and 14% owing it to using their mobile phones and other tech devices in bed.
However, for 21%, bad nights were caused by physical conditions or illnesses, and 17% because of poor mental health, – a quarter (25%) of whom have had to take a sick day to catch up.
One in 10 (11%) UK employees struggled with poor sleep because their partner snores, 16% have insomnia and 12% said their financial situation was stressful and kept them awake.
While three in 10 (30%) have sought help to address their poor sleep hygiene, 70% have not. Of those who had tried to improve their sleep, 45% have taken sleeping pills or medication, 36% had spoken to an NHS doctor, 32% have tried meditation or mindfulness, 29% had used alternative or herbal medicine and 23% used an app.
Dan Crook, protection sales director at Canada Life, (pictured) said: “Lack of sleep and poor sleep quality is a really important factor in our overall wellbeing and wellness. It underpins everything we do, forming the basis of how we feel, our health, wellness, our relationships, and our 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.
“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. MyStrength is Canada Life’s mental wellbeing app, available to all employees and immediate family members of companies who have a workplace protection policy with Canada Life. The app offers users access to programmes and modules based on cognitive behavioural therapy, specifically designed to help improve sleep.
“In fact, the sleep improvement module is currently the most accessed and completed app on MyStrength. This means around 5% of the UK’s workforce – or 2.8 million workers – are able to proactively manage or improve their wellbeing at their own convenience.”