70% of those working from home have seen their sleeping pattern disrupted
The new influx of people working from home has led to workers finding their sleeping patterns disrupted, data from Hammonds Furniture has revealed.
A survey of 2,000 people who started working from home in the past three weeks has found that 70% of new home workers have found their sleeping patterns disrupted in some way, with one in four claiming that their sleeping pattern has been ‘very disrupted’, with a restless sleep each night.
| Level of disruption in sleeping | |
| My sleeping pattern has been very disrupted, with a restless sleep each night | 26% |
| My sleeping has been somewhat disrupted, with a restless sleep often | 25% |
| My sleeping pattern has been slightly disrupted, with some restless sleep | 22% |
| I have been sleeping well, with little restless sleep | 18% |
| I have been sleeping better than usual | 7% |
The research also look at the breakdown of the different rooms people are working in and if this was also impacting sleep quality.
A fifth (20%) of respondents are lucky enough to have a home office that they can work from each day, but the remainder (80%) are having to make do with other rooms.
Over a fifth of respondents (21%) are working from their main bedroom, which is negatively influencing their sleeping patterns. A massive, 84% of those who’ve been working from their bedroom have found their sleeping pattern is ‘disrupted’ or ‘very disrupted’.
The research even found that almost one in ten (9%) are working from their bathroom – possibly due to two people sharing a studio flat, or Wi-Fi connectivity issues.
| Where are people working? | |
| Home office room | 20% |
| Front / living room | 21% |
| Kitchen | 11% |
| Main bedroom | 21% |
| Spare bedroom | 7% |
| Back room / dining room | 5% |
| Bathroom | 9% |
| Hallway | 6% |
Women are working mostly in the living room (24%) with men taking the home office (23%).
Over a third (36%) of women have found their sleeping pattern ‘very disrupted’ over the last three weeks, compared to 21% of men.
One in ten men (11%) have been sleeping better than usual versus just 4% of women.
The age range seeing the most disrupted sleep is 18 – 24-year-olds (84%) followed by 25-34- year-olds (76%). This is compared to just 60% of 55-64-year-olds.
| Where are different age groups working? | |
| Age Group | Room |
| 18-24 | Living Room (27%) |
| 25-34 | Bedroom (32%) |
| 35-44 | Kitchen (29%) |
| 45-55 | Home office (23%) |
| 55-64 | Living Room (28%) |
| 65+ | Home office (32%) |
In London, 84% of people working from home have found their sleeping pattern disrupted – the highest percentage in the UK. This is followed by 82% of people in Bristol and Glasgow, and 81% of people in Manchester.
Marcus Lobow (26), who works at Regional Services in Barking, has been working from home for the past two weeks and struggling with this sleep. He said:
“I’m currently living in shared accommodation with no shared living space, which means I have to work solely out of my bedroom, and I feel like my sleeping pattern has really been affected.
“I have been waking up several times during the night and struggle to switch off when I would usually sleep. I find myself being sluggish and sleepy much more than I usually would be during work.
“To help combat this, I‘ve been exercising more throughout the day and eating more fruits, my next step is to completely cut out coffee from my diet. Luckily for me, work has been great, they have allowed me to be flexible with my work so If I have a bad night sleep, I can start work a few hours later.”
Virtual Even Specialist, Ashanti Bentil-Dhue (31),from London is also working from her bedroom. She said:
“I work in my bedroom as I live in a small flat. Because I work and ‘live’ in the same room, there is less structure to my day and less concept of ‘time’, so my sleeping pattern has been severely interrupted.
“I am still figuring out how to adjust, which may take time. I’ve changed the way I work so that I am taking client calls when I am feeling the most energised and not when I feel exhausted.”
