Estate agents losing out in sleep stakes

Estate agents top the list of sleep-deprived professionals due in part to credit crunch worries and a weakening housing market, a survey of British workers published on Monday found.

Estate agents manage to sleep just 5 hours and 50 minutes a night, the survey of 4,000 workers commissioned by the budget hotel chain Travelodge said.

Lorry and taxi drivers, hit by soaring fuel prices, sleep just 6 hours and 16 minutes a night, ahead of bankers, who average 6 hours and 23 minutes of shut eye.

Health professionals recommend 8 hours of sleep.

The survey asked how much sleep participants got each night and the reasons why. More than a third blamed the pressures of work in the current financial climate for their sleeplessness.

"It's no surprise the professions in the industries worst hit by the credit crunch come top of the charts," said Leigh McCarron of Travelodge.

"We all know that money worries and job security are key drivers of stress which in turn, leads to significant sleep loss."

The poll found media professionals get the most sleep, the report showed, remaining in the land of nod for 7 hours and 12 minutes, while 52 percent of workers take time off work or use their weekends to catch up on missed sleep.