Over-stressed lawyers lack sleep

If you see bloodshot eyes and a haggard face in the mirror each morning then console yourself with this thought—you’re not alone.

Solicitors are in the top 10 most sleepless professions for the second year running, with an average nightly shut-eye of just six hours and 53 minutes.
And if Gordon Brown “visited” you last night, fear not—the prime minister has haunted the dreams of one in five professionals.

Solicitors were ninth on this year’s Travelodge “Sleep and Professions” study of more than 6,000 UK workers. Teachers topped the list, with an average of six hours and three minutes during the week. Next were civil servants, doctors and nurses, and builders.

An unlucky 20% of respondents report having a work related nightmare at least once a week during the working week. The top three nightmares are: being chased by your boss; falling from a great height; and being stranded.     
Thirty per cent of workers can’t sleep at night because of work worries, and 46% spend their weekends catching up on sleep missed during the week.
Anna Buttimore, administrator at LawCare, a support service for lawyers, said: “Our helpline is busier than it’s ever been, although that could be partly due to our receiving more publicity.

“We are receiving an enormous amount of calls from lawyers—we are 15% up on last year, and a lot of calls are to do with financial matters. Not getting enough sleep is a typical symptom of stress, whether it’s because they’re worried at night or working hard and unable to switch off at night.”

LawCare has opened 457 case files in 2009 to date, and received 2,000 calls. One quarter concerned redundancy (or fear of); 24% concerned financial problems; 20% concerned disciplinary matters; 17% were because of bullying; and the rest were to do with relationships, ethical matters or bereavement.

Eight per cent of callers said they were clinically depressed.
Ewan Crawford, senior sleep investigator from Edinburgh Sleep Centre saYS: “Even though the credit crunch has moved on a year, the economic climate is still fuelling this sleep disorder.

“Money worries and concerns regarding job security are the two key drivers of stress; which in turn are leading to significant sleep loss across the British workforce. Having sleepless nights on a long term basis can be very detrimental on your health and it will affect your productivity and overall well being.”

Over-stressed lawyers could consider becoming accountants, one of the best-slept professions with a nightly average of seven hours and 24 minutes.