Workers stuck in demanding jobs with little control over their work suffer sleep problems that can persist for nearly a decade, according to new research that tracked more than 1,700 Americans through their middle-age years.
The nine-year study, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, found that employees reporting high job strain at the start experienced significantly more sleep disturbances over the following years, regardless of how researchers measured the workplace stress.
The research team examined data from 1,721 workers averaging 51 years of age who participated in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. They specifically looked at four key sleep problems that plague stressed workers: difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the night and struggling to return to sleep, early morning awakening with inability to resume sleep, and feeling unrested despite hours spent in bed.
To measure job strain, researchers used six different methods based on the established Karasek’s Job-Demand-Control model. This model defines job strain as a combination of high job demands paired with low worker control. All six approaches showed the same concerning pattern – higher initial job strain predicted worse sleep over time.
“Our findings also suggest that the continuous formulations of job strain demonstrate better model performance with consistent and robust results, offering empirical evidence for future psychosocial occupational health research in the United States,” said Yijia Sun, the study’s first author and MS candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The findings point to an urgent need for workplace changes, according to Dr. Jian Li, professor of Work and Health at UCLA and the study’s corresponding author. “Strategies such as redesigning workloads and promoting worker autonomy could play an important role in improving sleep health and workers’ well-being,” he said.
The research adds to mounting evidence that workplace stress doesn’t stay at the office, but follows workers home and into their beds. With sleep problems linked to numerous health issues including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental health challenges, the findings suggest that high-strain jobs could have far-reaching effects on public health.
As American workplaces continue evolving post-pandemic, the study’s insights could help shape policies that better protect workers’ sleep – and by extension, their long-term health and productivity.