The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a study that measured which occupations were likely to have workers get the minimum hours of sleep a night and which occupations may leave workers feeling tired on the job.

This study was not just about one late night or early morning, but rather tried to determine jobs that would leave workers with a chronic lack of sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends seven hours of sleep a night at the minimum. The CDC surveyed 179,621 workers across 29 states who reported how much sleep they normally got in 24 hours. The researchers created 22 broad occupational categories and then further specified 93 professional groups out of those 22 categories.

According to the CDC’s research, of the 93 specific groups, switchboard and telephone operators are the least likely to meet this recommended seven hours of sleep. Other transportation workers and railroad transportation workers also reported short sleep durations, followed by printing workers, plant and system operators, food prep and servers and production workers.

Those who reported the lowest percent of shortened sleep were air transportation workers, followed by religious workers, first-line supervisors and managers, and teachers.

Of the 22 major groups, those in Production, Healthcare Support, Healthcare Practitioners and Technical, Food Preparation and Serving-Related and Protective Service occupations reported the highest levels of “short sleep duration”. The two major occupational groups with the lowest reported levels were Education, Training, and Library and Farming, Fishing, and Forestry.

Among all occupations, about one-third of those surveyed reported that they slept fewer than seven hours.

There have been studies on shift workers that demonstrate that they too are likely to report short sleep durations compared to those who work typical day shifts. This kind of work is prevalent in the major occupational categories reporting higher levels of short sleep durations (Production, Healthcare Support, etc.).

We don’t typically think of sleep levels as a factor of our overall health but a lack of sleep can contribute to cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, depression and other health issues. It can also contribute to more injuries on the job, because sleepy workers may be more prone to accidents and may not be as quick to respond if something goes wrong. It also contributes to production levels of employees.

The Federal Aviation Administration rolled out new scheduling regulations that require pilots to have a 10 hour minimum rest period, which may be a factor in the sleep levels reported by air transportation workers. The Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008 also mandated limits on hours worked but they are not required until 2018, which may be why railroad workers are reporting higher levels of short sleep durations.

The authors admitted there are certain limitations on this study, since it uses cross-sectional data and self-reported data which may be subject to bias. There were only 29 states represented in the study as well.

Read the summary here.