Sleep And Work: A Bad Night's Rest Might Be Affecting Your Job

Could a bad night's rest be interfering with your work productivity?

New findings published in the journal Sleep reveal that certain interventions to treat sleep issues may improve overall satisfaction at the office, as well as performance.

"The results are important because they show that work demands influence stress negatively, and this link has rarely been investigated in longitudinal studies," said lead author and principal investigator Torbjörn Akerstedt, a professor in the department of clinical neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, in a news release. "Sleep problems are abundant in the industrialized world, and we need to know where mitigation may be most effective."

For the study, researchers analyzed data from the 2008 and 2010 waves of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health that was comprised of 4,287 participants with a mean age of 48 years, including 2,655 females and 2,171 males. Information on age, sex and socioeconomic status was also collected from the national register, as well as information from the Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire (KSQ), which helped identify disturbed sleep as either restless sleep, repeated awakening periods or premature awakening. Researchers also used the Swedish version of the Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire to measure work demands, control and work and social support.

Sleep disturbances predicted a higher perception of stress, a lower degree of control, typically higher work demands and less social support at work two years later. However, no relationship was found between disturbed sleep and physical work environment, working hours or shift work schedules.

According to the study authors, the results support similar findings that show how a better night's rest can improve working life by reducing perceived job stress, as well as minimizing negative attitudes toward work.