Across emergency rooms, power grids, and server rooms, millions of workers lie in bed each night suspended between rest and readiness — and research now confirms that this suspension alone is enough to erode the quality of sleep, even when no call ever arrives. The psychological weight of uncertainty, not merely the interruption itself, keeps the brain partially alert and the body incompletely restored. What looks like personal time is, in a deeper sense, still work — and the cumulative toll on health, cognition, and safety is neither minor nor abstract. The question now before employers and r
On-call work disrupts sleep even without calls, research shows
On-call workers experience chronic sleep deprivation affecting cognitive function, safety, and long-term health outcomes including increased accident risk and mental health difficulties.