Sleeping seven to eight hours every night reduces the number of days you're absent from work due to any type of illness, a new study finds.
Many studies in the past have linked proper sleep to many health benefits. Adding to this, researchers from Finnish Institute of Occupational Health found that people who sleep for seven to eight hours per night are less likely to take leave from work due to any type of illness.
"Optimal sleep duration should be promoted, as very long and very short sleep indicate health problems and subsequent sickness absence," principal investigator Tea Lallukka, specialized researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, said in a press statement. "Those sleeping five hours or less, or 10 hours or more, were absent from work every year for 4.6 to 8.9 days more, as compared to those with the optimal sleep length."
The study was conducted on 3,760 men and women in Finland who had been employed in the previous year even for a short duration. At the start of the study, all participants were aged between 30 and 64 years. The participants were asked to answer questionnaires that helped the researchers determine certain sleep characteristics. They were also made to undergo physical examinations so that researchers could take few health measures. Data for work absences due to sickness were gathered from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, which tracks all sickness absences lasting more than 10 days. The average follow-up period was seven years.
At the end of the study, researchers found that people who slept for less than six hours or more than nine hours per night were more likely to take extended leave from work due to sickness. Contrarily, people who slept for 7 to 8 hours per night was least likely to be absent from working due to an illness. Insomnia-related symptoms, early morning awakenings, feeling more tired than others, and using sleeping pills also were consistently associated with a significant increase in workdays lost due to sickness.
"Insomnia symptoms should be detected early to help prevent sickness absence and deterioration in health, well-being and functioning," said Lallukka. "Successful prevention of insomnia not only promotes health and work ability among employees, but it can also lead to notable savings in reduced sickness absence costs."
The study was supported by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Work and Environment Fund. Findings were published online in the journal Sleep.
