Job Strain Can Worsen Sleep Longterm, Data Suggests

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Key Takeaways

  • Job stress is costing U.S. workers their sleep

  • High work strain increases risk of sleep disturbances significantly

  • These disturbances include trouble falling asleep, waking in the night, and waking too early

FRIDAY, Jan. 10, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- Ever woke in the night with your thoughts racing about work problems, co-worker disputes, or heavy career decisions?

Well, it’s more common than you think.

Job stress is robbing U.S. workers of the sleep they need, researchers reported in a study published Jan. 8 in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

Work strain increases risk of sleep disturbances significantly, researchers found.

The results indicate that companies could do more to help workers get their rest, which in turn will improve their productivity, said senior researcher Dr. Jian Li, a professor of work and health at UCLA.

“Strategies such as redesigning workloads and promoting worker autonomy could play an important role in improving sleep health and workers’ well-being,” Li said.

The new study analyzed data from more than 1,700 workers participating in a study of midlife people in the United States. These folks were followed for about nine years on average.

Sleep disturbances were assessed based on how often people had trouble falling asleep, waking in the night, waking too early in the morning, and feeling unrested during the day.

“Sleep disturbances have been a major public health concern, with recent statistics indicating that approximately 1 in 7 adults experienced difficulty falling asleep, and 1 in 6 adults had trouble staying asleep in the United States,” researchers said in background notes.

Researchers analyzed the effect of work stress on sleep using six different means of measuring job strain.

Every single measure significantly linked job strain to higher risk of sleep disturbances, results show.

“Our results imply the critical need for early workplace interventions aimed at reducing job strain,” the researchers concluded.

More information

Baylor College of Medicine has more on the effects of stress on sleep.

SOURCE: American Journal of Industrial Medicine, news release, Jan. 8, 2025

What This Means For You

People whose sleep is suffering from work stress should talk to their doctor about ways of relieving stress and improving their sleep hygiene.

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