As National Carers Week begins, financial services professionals are being reminded to take their own wellbeing seriously, with a renewed focus on the critical role of sleep in maintaining mental and physical health.
At a recent session hosted by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), Paul Barrett, head of wellbeing at the Bank Workers’ Charity (BWC), shared new data showing widespread sleep deprivation across the sector. Speaking at IMLA’s latest Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Lunch and Learn event, Barrett revealed that 71% of UK workers are failing to get the recommended minimum of seven hours’ sleep per night.
For those in the mortgage and banking sectors, the problem appears even more acute. A 2024 report by the Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter found that just 9% of advisers manage to get sufficient sleep every night of the week. Among bank employees, BWC figures indicate that 60% identify inadequate sleep as a frequent concern.
Barrett warned that the impact is particularly stark for the many professionals juggling their careers with caring responsibilities – a group that constitutes around one in eight UK workers. These unpaid carers provide vital support for friends or relatives unable to cope without assistance due to illness, disability, mental health challenges or addiction.
“The pressures on carers can be immense,” Barrett said, pointing to BWC research that shows 64% of carers say their responsibilities affect their social life, 49% report an impact on their mental health, and 42% say it has consequences for their work.
“Resilience is essential for carers, and sleep is a major factor in building and maintaining it,” he continued. “When we sleep we consolidate memories, retain information and the brain gets rid of waste matter via the lymph system. So good sleep protects against neurodegeneration. Sleep is also vital for our bodies – when we sleep we grow muscle, repair tissue and create hormones.”
LONG-TERM RISKS
Barrett drew attention to the serious long-term health risks linked to poor sleep, which include mental illness, obesity, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. But he also stressed the consequences for day-to-day functioning in high-stakes professions like finance.
“When we fail to get enough sleep on a regular basis, we can struggle to concentrate, our decision making becomes suspect, our memory suffers and we make more mistakes – which can have serious consequences,” he said. “Poor sleep has contributed to a range of catastrophes such as the Challenger space shuttle explosion, the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The evidence is clear: we all need to take sleep more seriously for the sake of our mental and physical health and the quality of our work – and this advice is particularly pertinent for the thousands of carers among us.”
Barrett encouraged industry professionals to adopt simple but effective sleep hygiene practices. These include sticking to consistent sleep and wake times, maintaining a cool and dark bedroom environment, avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evening, limiting screen time before bed and practising meditation. Regular exercise can also improve sleep quality.
His message to the industry was clear: taking care of carers starts with helping them – and their colleagues – take better care of themselves. And that means starting with a good night’s sleep.
