A restless night may leave you feeling tired at work, but what if your job is the very thing disrupting your sleep?
People with highly sedentary jobs — accounting for 80% of the current US workforce — face a significantly higher risk of insomnia, according to a new study published January 7 in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.
“We already know sleep is as close as a magic bullet that we have for employee productivity and well-being, yet the way job design has changed work endangers sleep health,” said Dr. Claire Smith, lead study author and assistant professor of psychology at the University of South Florida.
How job design impacts your sleep
The research, which analyzed data from more than 1,000 workers over a 10-year period from the national Midlife in the United States study, examined how job design impacts employees’ sleep patterns. Job design, as defined by the study, includes elements such as the amount of technology used at work, levels of physical activity and work schedules, specifically the time of day when employees work.
Participants reported their sleep habits at the beginning of the study (2004 to 2006) and again a decade later (2013 to 2017) using six sleep health indicators: sleep duration, regularity, insomnia symptoms, napping habits, daytime fatigue and the time it took to fall asleep.
To track changes in sleep patterns over 10 years, the study identified three distinct sleep health categories: good sleepers, insomnia sleepers and catch-up sleepers.
Good sleepers are those individuals who exhibit optimal sleep patterns, which include regular sleep cycles with low levels of daytime tiredness.
Insomnia sleepers experience short sleep cycles and higher levels of daytime fatigue.
Catch-up sleepers fall between these two groups and often rely on naps or extra weekend sleep to compensate for irregular sleeping patterns.
Workers operating on nontraditional schedules, particularly those working overnight hours, were 66% more likely to fall into the catch-up sleeper category because of their evening shifts. Smith noted that white-collar employees were more frequently categorized into the good sleeper or insomnia sleeper groups, whereas blue-collar workers were more likely to be catch-up sleepers because of their demanding shift schedules.
Employees who develop poor sleep patterns because of their job design are also at risk of dealing with these habits for years. Ninety percent of insomnia sleepers saw continuous symptoms up to 10 years later.
Insomnia sleepers also face a 72% to 188% greater risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and frailty, according to another study coauthored by Smith.
The study’s large sample size and statistical technique, which allows the volunteers’ sleep patterns to be tracked over an extended timeframe, makes the research incredibly valuable, said Dr. Luis Buenaver, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at Johns Hopkins University’s department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Unlike other sleep studies, which tend to focus on sleep quantity or quality, Smith said this research considered many factors that could provide a deeper understanding of common sleep problems.
“By using this approach, we’re able to gain access to a whole new population of people, (catch-up sleepers) who are having sleep problems that are typically ignored,” Smith said.
While the researchers expected extensive computer usage to worsen sleep health, they found little correlation between the two factors.
While that’s surprising given that devices are known to emit light that can be disruptive to sleep, Smith said the rise in technology use may offset these negative effects by increasing employee efficiency, ultimately protecting their sleep health.
What you can do to improve your sleep
Smith acknowledges that switching careers to better align with sleep needs is unrealistic for most people. However, if possible, she recommends job crafting — making small adjustments throughout the workday to better align with personal needs — to address sleep issues.
For sedentary workers, these tweaks could include short breaks throughout the day to move. Quick bouts of physical activity such as briefly walking through the office may help you feel more tired at bedtime and help some people avoid sleep-disrupting musculoskeletal issues, Smith said.
To ensure you don’t forget to take breaks, Buenaver advises people to set an hourly alert on their phone as a movement reminder. He added that taking the stairs instead of the elevator is another small way to add some more physical activity to your day.
If your job allows it, setting firm boundaries around work hours can prevent late-night tasks from disrupting your biological clock, which can lead to a reliance on catch-up sleep, Smith said.
Buenaver recommends unplugging smartphones and computers two hours before bedtime to avoid disturbances and setting up a charging station outside of your bedroom to avoid the temptation.
If avoiding screens isn’t an option, Buenaver suggests using the blue-light filter on your device to minimize the impact on your sleep.
For those working the night shift, Smith said employees may find relief by using light exposure to readjust their circadian rhythms.
Ultimately, Buenaver advises people who struggle with sleeping not to lose hope if they find themselves trapped in poor sleep habits.
“I want to send a positive message that you can change,” he said. “Even with little behavioral changes, they can amount to significant change if you’re persistent.”
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