4 August 2026
Researcher Spotlight: Dr Kelly Sansom
One in three Australians report getting less than the recommended seven hours of sleep each day, while almost half say poor sleep affects their productivity at work or school (8).
Sleep Health Week 2026 encourages Australians to Explore your sleep. Transform your days and Raine Study researcher, Dr Kelly Sansom, is helping uncover why healthy sleep is about much more than simply getting enough hours. (1,8)
Meet the Researcher
Dr Kelly Sansom is a Research Associate at the Centre for Healthy Ageing in the Health Futures Institute at Murdoch University. Dr Sansom has worked as a sleep researcher since 2018, beginning with an Honours project at the Centre for Sleep Science, University of Western Australia, that inspired her interest in the links between sleep and health.
“What really drew me to the field was that there is still so much we don’t know about sleep. Compared with many other areas of health research, sleep science is relatively young and we’re constantly discovering more about the importance of sleep across the lifespan,” Dr Sansom said.
Today, Dr Sansom investigates how improving sleep may contribute to better health and wellbeing.
Why Sleep Matters
Sleep is now recognised as one of the three core pillars of health alongside nutrition and physical activity. (1)
According to the 2025 Aussie Sleep Snapshot: (8)
- 33% of Australians get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep each day.
- 46% report that poor sleep affects their productivity.
- 70% say work, family, stress, or health concerns regularly affect their sleep.
- Only 25% report maintaining a consistent sleep pattern.
What the Research is Revealing
Using data from the Raine Study, Dr Sansom’s findings suggest that sleep timing, sleep consistency and sleep disorders may all play an important role in health and wellbeing. (2,3,4)
“One of the key messages emerging from my research is that healthy sleep is much more than the number of hours we spend in bed,” explains Dr Sansom.
Why the Raine Study Matters
For Dr Sansom, the Raine Study offers a rare opportunity to explore sleep across generations. She first began working with the study in 2019 when it became a key resource for her PhD research.
“It is the only study in the world to have collected detailed physiological sleep assessments across two generations within a large community-based cohort,” she said.
The Raine Study is one of a small number of long-running population studies worldwide which combines detailed health information using wearable activity monitoring technologies and polysomnography which is the gold standard for identifying sleep disorders. (10)
This robust and extensive dataset provides researchers with a rare opportunity to investigate how sleep patterns and sleep disorders develop and change over time, building understanding of their impact on long-term health and wellbeing.
Understanding Sleep Across Two Generations
Using data collected from Generation 2 participants aged 22 years between 2012 and 2014, Dr Sansom’s research has revealed links between sleep disorders, shift work, mental health, and safety outcomes, including sleep-related incidents in the workplace and on the road. (3,7)
Using data collected between 2015 and 2017, from the parents of the original cohort (Generation 1), Dr Sansom has shown that sleep regularity and sleep timing are associated with quality of life, blood pressure, and healthy ageing. (2,4,5,6)
Together, these studies demonstrate that sleep plays an important role from early adulthood through to later life. (2,3,4,5,6,7)
The Everyday Impact
For Dr Sansom, sleep is not simply about preventing tiredness. Her research shows that sleep can influence long-term health, wellbeing and quality of life, potentially affecting a person’s mental wellbeing and cardiovascular health, and even how people function day-to-day. (2,3,5,6,7)
In particular, her findings suggest that a regular sleep schedule may also be important for health and wellbeing. (2)
By studying sleep in large community populations, researchers can better understand who is most at risk of sleep problems and which factors are linked to poorer health outcomes. This knowledge can inform policy, strengthen public awareness, support earlier diagnosis, and improve access to effective treatments.
Looking Ahead
Dr Sansom’s long-term goal is to improve health outcomes by generating evidence that helps prevent, identify, and manage sleep problems more effectively.
Dr Sansom is particularly interested in understanding who is most vulnerable to poor sleep and sleep disorders, what consequences may be present, and potential interventions. “Through this work, I hope to support more targeted, evidence-based approaches to sleep health that ensure the right people receive the right intervention at the right time,” she said.
As Sleep Health Week 2026 encourages Australians to Explore your sleep, transform your days, Dr Sansom’s research provides a powerful reminder that understanding your sleep may be one of the simplest ways to improve your health, wellbeing, and quality of life. “When you sleep, how regular your sleep is, and whether you have an underlying sleep disorder can all affect your health, wellbeing, and daily functioning. Taking the time to explore your sleep is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your overall health,” she advises.
The Raine Study is grateful for Dr Sansom’s time in sharing her findings and expertise.
Sleep Health Statistics
- One in three Australians aren’t getting enough sleep. 33% of Australians report less than the recommended 7 hours of sleep per day. (8)
- More than half of Australians experienced insufficient sleep in the past week. 28% of Australians report at least one night of insufficient sleep in the previous week, while another 28% experienced poor sleep on five or more nights. (9)
- Stress and mental overload are the biggest barriers to good sleep. The most common factors affecting sleep were a busy mind (47%) and worry or anxiety (42%). (9)
- Most Australians face barriers to sleeping when they want to. 70% of Australians said work, family, stress, or health factors often affect when or how they sleep. (9)
- Consistent sleep patterns are uncommon. Only 25% of Australians reported maintaining a consistent sleep pattern, while just 36% said they always have control over when they sleep. (9)
Access the full Report card from Sleep Health Foundation here.
Sources:
- Sleep Health Foundation website https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/
- Sansom, Mittinty, Scott, et al. (2025). Health Related Quality of Life and Sleep Regularity Among Middle-Aged to Older Adults From the Community. Journal of sleep research(1365-2869 (Electronic)). https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.70194
- Sansom, Mittinty, Dunbar, et al. (2025). Additive interactions of sleep disorders, insufficient sleep, and shift work on road and workplace safety incidents: A sufficient cause approach with overlap weights. Sleep Medicine, 134, 106699. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106699
- Sansom, Reynolds, Windred, et al. (2024). The interrelationships between sleep regularity, obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension in a middle-aged community population. Sleep. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae001
- Sansom, Reynolds, Dhaliwal, et al. (2023). Cross-sectional interrelationships between chronotype, obstructive sleep apnea and blood pressure in a middle-aged community cohort. J Sleep Res, 32(3), e13778. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13778
- Sansom, Reynolds, McVeigh et al. (2023). Estimating sleep duration: performance of open-source processing of actigraphy compared to in-laboratory polysomnography in the community. Sleep Adv, 4(1), zpad028. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleepadvances/zpad028
- Reynolds, Lechat, Melaku, Sansom et al. (2022). Shift work, clinically significant sleep disorders and mental health in a representative, cross-sectional sample of young working adults. Sci Rep, 12(1), 16255. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20308
- McConville, Sansom, Reynolds, et al. (2025) Aussie sleep snapshot: sleep health in young adulthood in Australia. Australian Psychologist, 61(2), 186–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2025.2601004
- Sansom, Reynolds, Adams, et al. (2025) Aussie Sleep Snapshot June 2025 https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/news-and-articles/poor-sleep-is-costing-young-australians-five-days-a-week-in-lost-productivity-and-nearly-half-the-nation-turns-to-sleep-medication
- McNamara, Nichols, Dash, et al. (2023). Sleep: A Core Pillar of Health and Wellbeing. Improving Population Sleep Health to Reduce Preventable Illness and Injury – A Policy Evidence Review. Australian Health Policy Collaboration: Melbourne, Victoria University, October 2023.