London, Feb 23 (IANS) Flexible working hours might benefit employees' health, including their blood pressure (BP), sleep patterns and mental health, says a new study.

Police officers who rescheduled working hours significantly improved psychological wellbeing, compared to peers who started work at a fixed hour, the study found.

'Flexible working seems to be more beneficial for health and wellbeing where the individuals control their own work patterns,' said Clare Bambra of the Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, who led the study, part of the Cochrane Systematic Review.

The study may shed some light on such potential benefits linked with more flexible hours. In Scandinavian countries, such arrangements are commonplace.

Last year, the British government extended an earlier piece of legislation permitting parents with children under 16 years to request flexible hours.

The Cochrane Systematic Review included 10 studies involving 16,603 people which focussed on various different forms of flexible working.

'Given the limited evidence base, we wouldn't want to make any hard and fast recommendations, but these findings certainly give employers and employees something to think about,' Bambra said, according to a Wiley-Blackwell release.