Doctors, company directors and tradesmen are cited by new research as losing the most sleep while solicitors are among those who lose the least, writes Gabrielle Monaghan.

Work-related stress in Ireland is depriving doctors, company directors and tradesmen of vital sleep, new research shows.

Irish people may be losing as many as seven years of sleep over their lifetimes by skipping the equivalent of more than a night's sleep every week, according to a study commissioned by hotel chain Travelodge Ireland.

The study also showed that how well we sleep depends on what we do for a living. Doctors, unsurprisingly, get the least sleep out of all professions.

Their sleep deficit of 13 years during their working life is double the national average, with one in four doctors regularly going to work after just four hours' sleep. As a result, more than two-thirds of medics spend their all-important leisure time catching up on lost sleep.

Work-related stress was the number one reason cited by almost seven out of 10 doctors for poor quality sleep, followed by eating too late.

Medics get an average of 5.6 hours' sleep a night, the Travelodge survey found.

Company directors rank second in the list of sleep-deprived professions, with just 5.8 hours' slumber a night.

Other professions that suffer a shortage of sleep include train drivers, emergency services workers, tradesmen, nurses, taxi drivers, shift workers, housewives, and members of the armed forces.

"With the number of Irish people now spending longer hours in their cars commuting to work, it is more difficult for people to get the recommended eight hours' sleep," says Séamus McGowan, director of Travelodge Ireland.

"Therefore, professionals may be under stress or just unable to concentrate due to not getting a good night's sleep."

The UK-based chain has spent the past year focusing on improving sleeping conditions in its rooms.

It has introduced measures such as replacing cumbersome duvets with lightweight, breathable duvets, adding beds with better mattresses and improving lighting and sound proofing.

At the other end of the sleeping spectrum, mechanics get the most sleep, with four out of 10 of them managing nine hours a night. Staff in the leisure industry rank second, averaging 7.4 hours' sleep. Other professions that are well rested include call-centre staff, the self-employed, IT managers, civil servants, lorry drivers, bar and restaurant staff, retail staff and labourers.

Elsewhere in the job market, more than two-thirds of solicitors say that they've never had a broken night's sleep. Indeed, 89 per cent of them didn't report any problems nodding off.

A separate study in the UK showed that one in three people felt that being sleepy affected their daytime performance, while one in four said that it made them irritable and unable to function properly.

Excessive alcohol consumption, digestive trouble and late nights on the computer can all affect our sleep patterns, according to the recent Nytol sleep report, conducted by Future Laboratory.

Women are most likely to suffer from lack of sleep because of their attempts to achieve the ideal balance between having a family and a career, the study found. The need to perform better at work, to care for the family, to make more money and to be the "positive role model in relationships" are all factors in 70 per cent of women suffering from sleepless or sleep-disturbed nights.