Work hours, weekend working, nonstandard work schedules and sleep quantity and quality: findings from the UK Household Longitudinal Study
Work hours, weekend working, nonstandard work schedules and sleep quantity and quality: findings from the UK Household Longitudinal Study
Background: atypical temporal work patterns such as working longer than the standard 35-40 hour week, weekend working, and nonstandard work schedules (i.e. outside of the typical 9-5, including but not restricted to shiftwork) are increasingly prevalent in the UK. Aside from occupation-specific studies, little is known about the effects of these atypical temporal work patterns on sleep among workers in the UK, even though poor sleep has been linked to adverse health problems, lower workplace productivity, and economic costs.
Method: we used regression models to investigate associations between three types of atypical temporal work patterns (long and short weekly work hours, weekend working, and nonstandard schedules) and sleep duration and disturbance using data from over 25,000 employed men and women from 2012-2014 and/or 2015-2017 in the UK Household Longitudinal Study, adjusting for potential confounders and psychosocial work factors.
Results: we found that relative to a standard 35-40 hours/week, working 55 hours/week or more was related to short sleep (less than 7 hours/night) and sleep disturbance. Working most/all weekends compared to non-weekends was associated with short sleep, long sleep (more than 8 hours/night), and sleep disturbance, as was working nonstandard schedules relative to standard schedules (fixed day-time schedules). Further analyses suggested some gender differences.
Conclusions: these results should prompt employers and policymakers to recognise the need for rest and recovery, consider how the timing and scheduling of work might be improved to better support workers’ health and productivity, and consider appropriate compensation for anyone required to work atypical temporal work patterns.
Sleep Quality, Work hours, Work schedules, UK household longitudinal study
Weston, Gillian
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Zilanawala, Afshin
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Webb, Elizabeth
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Carvalho, Livia A.
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McMunn, Anne
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Weston, Gillian
cfaaf2f1-c844-4dba-b447-8032ae1eacfd
Zilanawala, Afshin
dddbeee8-798a-441c-bb79-f0d3908647dd
Webb, Elizabeth
abadeb14-51ea-45fa-995d-a55ff4bef7da
Carvalho, Livia A.
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McMunn, Anne
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Weston, Gillian, Zilanawala, Afshin, Webb, Elizabeth, Carvalho, Livia A. and McMunn, Anne
(2024)
Work hours, weekend working, nonstandard work schedules and sleep quantity and quality: findings from the UK Household Longitudinal Study.
BMC Public Health.
(In Press)
Abstract
Background: atypical temporal work patterns such as working longer than the standard 35-40 hour week, weekend working, and nonstandard work schedules (i.e. outside of the typical 9-5, including but not restricted to shiftwork) are increasingly prevalent in the UK. Aside from occupation-specific studies, little is known about the effects of these atypical temporal work patterns on sleep among workers in the UK, even though poor sleep has been linked to adverse health problems, lower workplace productivity, and economic costs.
Method: we used regression models to investigate associations between three types of atypical temporal work patterns (long and short weekly work hours, weekend working, and nonstandard schedules) and sleep duration and disturbance using data from over 25,000 employed men and women from 2012-2014 and/or 2015-2017 in the UK Household Longitudinal Study, adjusting for potential confounders and psychosocial work factors.
Results: we found that relative to a standard 35-40 hours/week, working 55 hours/week or more was related to short sleep (less than 7 hours/night) and sleep disturbance. Working most/all weekends compared to non-weekends was associated with short sleep, long sleep (more than 8 hours/night), and sleep disturbance, as was working nonstandard schedules relative to standard schedules (fixed day-time schedules). Further analyses suggested some gender differences.
Conclusions: these results should prompt employers and policymakers to recognise the need for rest and recovery, consider how the timing and scheduling of work might be improved to better support workers’ health and productivity, and consider appropriate compensation for anyone required to work atypical temporal work patterns.
Text
revised manuscript temporal work patterns and sleep
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 13 January 2024
Additional Information:
Support for this work was provided by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) [grant numbers ES/R003114/1 and ES.J019119/1] and the Medical Research Council, UK. Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study is primarily funded by the ESRC. The funders were not involved in the study design, analysis, interpretation of the data or writing up of this paper. The decision to submit this paper for publication was at the discretion of the authors.
Keywords:
Sleep Quality, Work hours, Work schedules, UK household longitudinal study
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 486315
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486315
ISSN: 1471-2458
PURE UUID: f6f3fbdd-cad7-491c-8203-e2a81e9355e5
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 17 Jan 2024 17:34
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 05:03
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Contributors
Author:
Gillian Weston
Author:
Elizabeth Webb
Author:
Livia A. Carvalho
Author:
Anne McMunn
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