Sleep
Physicians routinely counsel patients about the importance of sleep, yet many struggle to prioritize it themselves. Long clinical hours, overnight call, administrative responsibilities, charting, academic obligations, and family commitments often lead physicians to view sleep as a luxury rather than a biological necessity.
Modern medicine frequently rewards endurance and productivity, creating a culture where sleep deprivation is normalized. However, decades of research have demonstrated that inadequate sleep adversely affects nearly every aspect of physical health, cognitive performance, emotional well-being, and professional effectiveness. More importantly, growing evidence suggests that chronic sleep deficiency is a significant contributor to physician burnout.
Sleep Duration and Mortality
Sleep duration is associated with mortality in a U-shaped fashion. The lowest risk is most often found in the group who report sleep durations of 7–8 hours, and , mortality risk increases with further deviation from the 7–8hr range. Numerous studies from around the world (U.S., Japan, Israel, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom) show similar relationships.
Grandner MA, Hale L, Moore M, Patel NP. Mortality associated with short sleep duration. Sleep Med Rev. 2010;14(3):191-203.
Short sleep duration and health outcomes: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression
In this systematic review and meta-analysis, short sleep duration (<6 hours) was significantly associated with the mortality, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, coronary heart diseases, and obesity. Meta-regression analyses found a linear association between a statistically significant increase in mortality and short sleep duration.
Itani O, Jike M, Watanabe N, Kaneita Y. Short sleep duration and health outcomes: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression. Sleep Med. 2017 Apr;32:246-256.
Sleep Deprivation & Cognitive function
In this prospective study involving residents on 26-hour sleep, although motor learning remained intact, greater relative difficulty in the more demanding condition due to fatigue increased towards the end of the shift and remained elevated post-shift. Fatigue was associated with selective impairments in higher-order cognitive control processes, including task switching and divided attention. These results indicate that diminished cognitive flexibility during extended work shifts may compromise clinical performance, and that such effects may not be fully mitigated by subsequent recovery sleep.
Gottlieb A, Ben Yacov M, Heimler B, Hagur-Bahat Y, Wilf M, Plotnik M, Dudkiewicz I. Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive-motor functions and adaptive skill learning among medical residents across 26h night shifts. Appl Ergon. 2026 Jun 4;138:104824.
Insufficient sleep predicts clinical burnout
In this prospective study evaluating risk factors for development of clinical burnout, sleeping fewer than six hours per night emerged as the primary risk factor for the development of burnout, even after adjusting for work demands, work-related rumination during leisure time, and sleep quality. Notably, both work demands and persistent thoughts about work during leisure time were significant predictors in earlier stages of the multivariate regression analysis. These findings indicate that insufficient sleep, elevated work demands, and work-related rumination are important risk factors for subsequent burnout. Furthermore, the results suggest the presence of a potential causal pathway linking high work demands and work-related cognitive preoccupation to sleep deprivation, which in turn contributes to burnout development.
Söderström M, Jeding K, Ekstedt M, Perski A, Akerstedt T. Insufficient sleep predicts clinical burnout. J Occup Health Psychol. 2012 Apr;17(2):175-83.