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A new study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine highlights the significant impact of job strain on sleep quality over the long term. Middle-aged U.S. workers who reported high job strain at the start of the study experienced notably more sleep disturbances over an average follow-up period of nine years.
The research, which analyzed data from 1,721 workers with an average age of 51, is part of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Sleep disturbances were assessed using a recognized scale, measuring symptoms such as difficulty falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night and struggling to return to sleep, early morning awakenings, and feeling unrested despite sleep.
Using Karasek’s Job‐Demand‐Control model, the study quantified job strain based on the interaction between high job demands and low job control. Six different formulations of job strain were employed, all showing a significant association between higher levels of strain at baseline and an increase in sleep disturbances over time.
First author Yijia Sun, an MS candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), emphasized the robustness of the study’s findings. “Our results suggest that continuous formulations of job strain provide better model performance, offering strong empirical evidence for future research into psychosocial occupational health in the United States.”
The corresponding author, Dr. Jian Li, MD, Ph.D., a professor of Work and Health at UCLA, pointed out the urgency of addressing job-related stress in the workplace. “Strategies such as redesigning workloads and enhancing worker autonomy could be key in improving sleep health and overall worker well-being.”
The study underscores the importance of workplace interventions to combat stress and its lasting effects on workers’ sleep quality.
For more information, the study is titled Alternative Formulations of Job Strain and Sleep Disturbances: A Longitudinal Study in the United States, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Read more here.
