What Type of Workers Get the Best Sleep?
By Najla Zaidi | 27 Aug, 2025

The occupations that enjoy the best sleep are those with hours that align with your circadian rhythm, involve less stress, require steady workloads and offer opportunities for outdoor physical activity.

If sleep quality is important to you, it's a good idea to know which occupations get the most and the least sleep. 

First, let’s look at how much sleep you actually need.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society have determined that adults need at least seven hours of sleep per night to promote optimal health.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) agrees that more than seven hours a night is enough sleep to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  Seven hours or less is considered “short sleep duration” and not enough sleep. 

Overall, the CDC found that nearly 37% of working adults report not getting enough sleep.  If a person who averaged less than six hours of sleep began resting for six to seven hours a day, the researchers estimate that $226 billion would be added to the U.S. economy.

In addition to that, getting a good night’s rest also decreases your chances of serious health issues like depression, anxiety, diabetes and obesity, according to the CDC.  Short sleep duration has also been linked to cardiovascular disease and safety issues related to injuries and drowsy driving.  

Now that we know sleep is essential, let’s dive into the careers that are the worst and the best in terms of sleep and sleep deprivation. 

CDC researchers ranked how professions fare when it comes to getting enough sleep, based on how many hours of slumber workers across 22 occupational groups reported getting in a 24-hour period. 

There were 5 main categories of vocations that didn’t get enough sleep.

Shift Workers

Production jobs like printing workers, woodworkers, and plant operators lack adequate sleep.  Production workers have the highest prevalence of sleep disorders in the United States.  This could be because these workers often operate on alternating day and night shifts, making it difficult for the body to sync up and allow for proper rest even when they’re not on the job.  According to research, shift work reliably results in up to two hours of sleep loss when working the night shift. This loss can add up over time.

Several new studies paint a troublesome picture of the potential health fallout of nontraditional shift work schedules that affect 15% to 30% of workers in the US and Europe.  The prevalence of shift work sleep disorder (SWSD), which disrupts the natural circadian rhythm, is particularly high among workers in fields like healthcare, protective services, and transportation. 

SWSD mainly strikes people who work the overnight or early morning shift, or who rotate their shifts, says Eric Zhou, an assistant professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  It is characterized by significant problems falling and staying asleep or sleeping when desired.  That's because shift work disrupts the body's normal alignment with the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle called the circadian rhythm.

"People who work 9-to-5 shifts are typically awake when the sun is up, which is aligned with their body's internal circadian clock.  But for shift workers, their work hours and sleep hours are misaligned with the natural cues to be awake or asleep," Zhou says.  "They're working against the universe's natural inclinations not just their body's."

A 2022 research review in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine also links shift work to higher risks for serious health problems, such as heart attack and diabetes.  This research suggests adverse effects can include metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that raises the risks for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, accidents, and certain types of cancer.

"The research is consistent and powerful," Zhou says. "Working and sleeping during hours misaligned with natural light for extended periods of time is not likely to be healthy for you."

Medical Professionals

Medical support staff, such as nurses, home health aides, and therapy assistants get even less sleep than other health care providers.  Research from NYU shows that nurses are not sleeping enough before their shifts, and breaks are likely not enough to account for the deficit. 

Just below support staff on the inadequate sleep list are medical practitioners, who also tend to do shift work that can last up to 24 hours or more, depending on local laws.  According to a 2019 study, most doctors sleep less than seven hours a night and use days off to catch up, which is a scary proposition for any patient about to have a serious medical procedure.

Food Service Workers

Food preparation and serving related jobs also don’t get enough sleep.  Almost half, 48.9% of food preparation and serving workers get less than seven hours of sleep each night, so it can be assumed that this is due to hospitality staff working late nights and early mornings. Their management also lack sleep as they cannot be away from their establishments for more than a few hours at a time. 

Police officers and firefighters are entrusted with public safety and often develop sleep disorders.  They are tasked with long hours and night shifts and since crime and fires never sleep, neither do the brave public servants who protect us. 

Road Warriors

Last on the list are those who spend long days and nights on the road, across time zones and away from their own home and bed.  Whether these people drive a bus across states or an 18-wheeler from coast to coast, these workers often miss out on vital sleep.

The lifestyles of people not getting enough sleep has to do with factors such as irregular hours, where they work long rotating shifts.  A high-stress trauma related field where the high-stakes environment can lead to stress, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which contribute to insomnia and poor sleep quality.  

Additionally, a field that demands hypervigilance can lead to insomnia and fragmented sleep as well.  Finally, physically demanding labor accompanied by shift work can lead to increased fatigue and sleep loss.

Best Sleep Occupations

The good news is there are some great fields where sleep isn’t an issue. 

Professions that get good sleep are farming, fishing and forestry — outdoor workers who mostly work daylight hours and get plenty of physical activity which may enable them to sleep better.  

Next are librarians, teachers, and archivists.   Despite the stresses of the profession, only 25.2% of surveyed teachers reported getting inadequate sleep per the CDC.

Counselors, religious workers, social workers also get adequate sleep.  This line of work is apparently good for the soul as only 22.4% of the people in religious work reported inadequate sleep.  

Finally, scientists and science technicians along with computer specialists and mathematical science jobs reported getting a good night’s sleep as well.  These white collar jobs enjoy normal hours and breaks with weekends and holidays off. 

The fields with better sleep promote lifestyles where the calm, structured nature of the work environment minimizes stress and promotes a more peaceful headspace.  In addition, standard, daytime work schedules allow for a consistent sleep-wake pattern that is aligned with natural circadian rhythms.  Even hard physical labor outdoors during the day can promote a restful good night’s sleep.

Even if you find yourself in a career that doesn’t allow you to get enough sleep, by advocating for better rest in the workplace, we may see a change come about in attitudes toward sleep.  At least for now, you can come to your next work meeting with facts and make the case for better sleep.