Sitting down at work may be bad for your sleep and could cause insomnia, research suggests

Sedentary work and a sedentary lifestyle can negatively affect your sleep, and symptoms often persist, a study shows. How to fix the problem

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Workers who fall into a pattern of poor sleep because of their job design, such as tasks involving long hours of sedentary work, may end up stuck in those unhealthy patterns for years. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:15pm, 28 Feb 2025

The health problems tied to office work have been widely circulated, with studies citing weight gain, carpal tunnel syndrome and cardiovascular issues as reasons to not sit for eight hours every day.

In addition to these issues, a sedentary lifestyle can also negatively affect your sleep, according to a new study.

The study – published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology in January – found that people with sedentary jobs face a significantly heightened risk of insomnia.

Analysing data from more than 1,200 workers over a 10-year period, the study grouped participants by their job design. The study describes job design as anything that “includes elements such as the amount of technology used at work, levels of physical activity and work schedules, specifically the time of day when employees work”.

The study found 90 per cent of insomnia-like sleepers saw their symptoms persist 10 years later. Photo: Shutterstock

Using six sleep health indicators – regularity, insomnia symptoms, duration, napping habits, daytime fatigue and time to sleep – the study tracked changes in people’s sleep patterns.