Poor sleep is affecting employee’s health, productivity and workplace performance, according to Carmen Bellows, registered psychologist and director of mental health at Sun Life Health, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2026 Vancouver Benefits Summit.
“Sleep is something we all intuitively know is important, but we all tend to sacrifice. Despite the risk to our health and our organizations, millions of Canadian employees struggle to get the quality sleep they need and it’s an issue that’s likely to only get worse.”
A Sun Life study conducted in partnership with Ipsos Canada found 43 per cent of Canadians get fewer than seven hours of sleep a night, falling below the recommended seven to nine hours. Employees who are particularly at risk are women, younger individuals and employees living with a chronic condition.
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Women are also more likely to experience sleeping difficulty or clinical insomnia due to mental-health challenges, caregiving responsibilities, social determinants of health and physiological conditions, said Bellows, noting 33 per cent of women experiencing perimenopause or menopause have clinical insomnia.
She suggested younger employees have the highest rates of sleep difficulty due to an active stage of life, high rates of mental-health challenges, excessive social media usage and screen time and financial stressors.
Canadians who regularly get fewer than seven hours of sleep per night are 50 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and 2.5-times more likely experience mental-health distress, said Bellows. “Academic and clinical research has demonstrated that the relationship between sleep quality and chronic conditions is bi-directional.”
Read: Editorial: Sleep is the best medicine in an increasingly foreboding world
In addition, the most reported causes of sleep difficulties among employees include financial stress, work stress and job anxiety, excessive screen time, psychological concerns and family stress. “Poor sleep is strongly linked with negative self-reported physical, mental, social and financial health.”
The study found employees with better sleep quality were also more likely to report positive outcomes related to productivity, work quality and satisfaction. On average, employees reported missing 3.1 days of work per year due to poor sleep and up to 7.9 days for those diagnosed with insomnia. Bellows noted poor sleep now ranks as the leading cause of casual workplace absences among Canadian employees.
“When asked to reflect on their employees, we found many employers may be underestimating the impact of poor sleep on the health of their workforce,” she said, noting only 33 per cent of employers agreed sleep quality is a health issue for their workforces.
Read more coverage of the 2026 Vancouver Benefits Summit.