From 397 residents included in the study, 21 dropped out voluntarily (10 due to issues with recording, five each due to work-related reasons and health issues, and one for unclear reasons). Data of 11 study participants had been excluded because the individuals did not live close enough (i.e. in a distance >500 m) to the mobile phone base station, finally resulting in data of morning and evening protocols of 365 individuals. For analysis of objective sleep data, data from seven individuals were omitted because a different recording system was used, and for 23 individuals the quality of recordings was not sufficient in at least 50% of all nights, resulting in a total number of datasets from 335 participants.

The characteristics of the originally included participants (n = 397) are shown in Table 2. The subgroup analyzed here (n = 335) did not differ from the voluntary dropout and excluded participants (n = 62), except for the number of individuals with elevated SDS scores, which was slightly higher among the participants not considered, while the median did not differ between groups. Fully employed participants (n = 129) were significantly younger (median: 44.0 years; interquartile range: 35.0, 51.0 years) than the not fully employed individuals (median: 47.0 years; interquartile range: 36.0, 59.0 years). Within the fully employed subsample, 75.2% were males and 24.8% were females.

To get a picture of clock times across the different nights, all 12 study days were considered. In Fig. 1a median bedtimes of all 12 nights for all participants and for the fully employed subsample separately (Fig. 1b) are displayed. Median getting up times are shown in Fig. 1c, d. Median bedtimes were earliest on Friday nights and getting up times were latest on Friday nights, i.e., Saturday mornings, in both samples. Whereas bedtimes were the same in both groups in 8 of the 12 nights (22:30), the fully employed showed earlier getting up times on all working day mornings.

Median bedtimes and getting up times across the two study weeks. a Median bedtimes of all participants. In b median bedtimes of only fully employed participants are shown. c Median getting up times of all participants and d of the fully employed only. Note that getting up times refer to the morning of the next day, e.g., getting up times of Sunday nights refer to Monday mornings. Sun Sunday, Mon Monday, Tue Tuesday, Wed Wednesday, Thu Thursday, Fri Friday

Three of the five objective (o) sleep parameters varied statistically significantly across the 6 days in all participants (Table 3). The median oTIB (Fig. 2a) as well as oTST (Fig. 2b) were longest on Sunday nights. Median oSOL was longest on Monday nights and shortest on Thursday and Friday nights (Fig. 2c). There were no significant differences between the nights in terms of oSEI and oWASO (Table 3). In the subsample of the fully employed participants, two parameters varied significantly across the week (Table 4). The oTIB was shortest on Monday nights and longest on Friday nights. The median oSOL was longest on Sunday nights and shortest on Thursday nights (Table 4).

Objective sleep parameters which vary significantly between the 6 days are shown for all participants. Results of Friedman tests and descriptive values are shown in Table 3. The respective most positive values in terms of sleep quality are colored in green and the parameters with the least sleep quality across 6 days are colored in orange

All six endpoints from the self-rated (s) evening- and morning protocols differed statistically significantly between the days, with the longest sTIB (Fig. 3a) and highest sSEI (Fig. 3c) on Friday nights, and the longest sTST (Fig. 3b) on Sunday nights (Table 3). All self-reported parameters were rated worst on Monday nights (and also on Tuesday nights in sTST, sSOL, and sWASO; see Fig. 3a–f) by all participants and by the subsample of the fully employed only (Table 4). In addition, in the fully employed (Table 4) sSOL was of equal length on Sundays and Tuesdays, and sSEI was of equal magnitude on Sundays and Mondays.

Self-rated parameters which vary significantly between the 6 days are shown for all participants. Results of Friedman tests and descriptive values are shown in Table 3. The respective most positive values in terms of (sleep) quality are colored in green, and the parameters with the least quality across 6 days are colored in orange

The durations of oTIB and oTST were longer in female participants than in males on all nights and differed statistically significantly on Sunday and Friday nights (Fig. 4a, b); oTIB also differed statistically significantly on Wednesday nights. Objective SOL was significantly longer in females on all nights, except for Monday nights. None of the other objective sleep parameters differed between women and men.

Objective sleep parameters for 6 days/nights that differ significantly between female and male participants are shown. Only significant p-values are indicated

In the self-rated sleep variables, only time in bed and sleep onset latencies indicated significant differences between female and male participants (Fig. 5a, b). The results were similar to those of the objective parameters and the direction was the same, with longer estimated sSOL in females in nearly all nights, except for Thursday nights, and significant differences with regard to sTIB on Sunday and Friday nights and also on Wednesday nights.

Self-rated sleep parameters for 6 days/nights that differ significantly between female and male participants are shown. Only significant p-values are indicated

The differences in objective sleep parameters between participants who were fully employed and those who were not are shown in the Fig. 6a–e. While oTIB (Fig. 6a) and oTST (Fig. 6b) in the fully employed were significantly shorter, in particular at the beginning of the week, oSEI was always significantly higher (Fig. 6c), except for Sunday nights. Objective WASO (Fig. 6e) was significantly shorter on all nights in the fully employed. On weekdays, oSOL (Fig. 6d) was significantly shorter on all nights in the fully employed subsample, except for Thursday and Sunday nights.

Objective sleep parameters for 6 days/nights: differences between fulltime employed participants and not fully employed participants. Only significant p-values are indicated

Self-rated sleep parameters show a similar picture to the objective ones in sTIB (Fig. 7a) and sTST (Fig. 7b), but just one significant difference in sSEI on Thursdays (Fig. 7c) and sWASO on Tuesdays (Fig. 7e). The sSOL (Fig. 7d) was rated significantly shorter on all nights in fully employed participants in contrast to on 4 nights in oSOL (Fig. 7d). The fully employed participants rated sleep of Wednesday nights as significantly less restful than the other participants (Fig. 7f). There were no significant differences in all other nights with regard to the degree of restfulness of sleep.

Subjective sleep parameters for 6 days/nights: differences between fulltime employed participants and not fully employed participants. Only significant p-values are indicated