Carrying more and sleeping less: New Sun Life research spotlights Canada’s sleep gap
Sleep problems are rising across Canada, but new research from Sun Life suggests the issue runs deeper than bedtime habits. The findings point to a broader reality: financial stress (27%), work stress or job anxiety (27%), too much screen time (26%) and mental health challenges (24%) are some of the top obstacles that are leaving Canadians overloaded and that burden is showing up in their sleep.
Taken together, these pressures point to what we’re seeing as a “sleep–stress cycle”: as daily demands rise, sleep is one of the first things to give, and one of the hardest to recover.
Here’s a closer look at what Canadian employees are experiencing:
Over 40 perent aren’t getting enough sleep
1 in 5 are living with clinical insomnia
1 in 3 say sleep is affecting their work performance
About 7 hours of productivity per week is lost to poor sleep
The effect of poor sleep shows up in workplaces through fatigue, lower engagement and missed productivity, creating a ripple effect for teams and organizations.
Many employers already offer supports that can help, like benefits plans that include mental health resources, virtual care and employee assistance programs. The challenge is making those supports easier to navigate and more relevant to what employees are experiencing.
That’s where Sun Life is focused: helping employers turn existing benefits into meaningful support.
The impact goes beyond sleep. Employees feel better supported. Workplaces become more resilient. And people are better able to show up, both at work and in their lives.
Erin Crump
“Sleep is one of the clearest signals of how people are coping with the pressures they carry every day. When Canadians are stretched by stress, health challenges or major life demands, sleep is often one of the first things to suffer. This research shows that helping people access the right support sooner can ease that burden and improve well-being for employees, while helping workplaces thrive.”
