What career will get you the most & least sleep?

Emma Finamore
Last updated 26 Sep 2018

If a solid eight hours is a deal-breaker for you, then read on to find out what career will allow you to get that all-important beauty sleep.

A new study has revealed how much sleep people in different professions get each night.

Student website, The Tab, conducted a sleep survey asking graduates and young professionals how many hours of sleep they typically get. The poll found that – perhaps unsurprisingly – bankers don’t do too well on the sleep front: 14% of those working in the industry average fewer than six hours a night.

To be healthy and well, adults (those over 18) should be getting between seven and nine hours of sleep every night.

A shocking 3% of banking staff said they get less than four hours a night, along with professions slightly less associated with long hours: 2% of PR professionals and 3% of sales staff both reported less than fours hours’ sleep a night.

The profession with the most people reporting a solid eight hours was healthcare (32%) and more than half of PR professionals said they get seven hours a night.

Teachers might be overworked, but they’re definitely getting to bed on time each school night: they averaged just over seven hours, the highest of all the professions.

In terms of averages, marketing performed almost as badly as banking – 6.7 hours compared with 6.5 hours – which might surprise some.

Here are the averages per profession below:

Banking – 6.5 hours a night

Sales – 6.6 hours a night

Marketing – 6.7 hours a night

PR – 6.8 hours a night

Media – 6.9 hours a night

Engineering – 7 hours a night

Healthcare – 7 hours a night

Law – 7 hours a night

6.5 hours sleep average isn't great, but banking can lead to a rewarding career - check out the finance apprenticeships we have available.

News