Job strain among US workers significantly associated with sleep disturbances over time

Key takeaways:

• Higher job strain carried significant associations with increased sleep disturbance over time.
• Individual effects of job demands and job control were significantly associated with long-term sleep disturbance.

High job strain was significantly associated with sleep disturbances over a follow-up of nearly 10 years, highlighting the importance of early interventions to reduce strain and improve sleep health, according to longitudinal study results.

“Among the working population, the significant impact of sleep problems on work productivity and workplace injuries has led to extensive examination of its relationship with occupational factors,” Yijia Sun, a master’s candidate in the department of biostatistics at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote in American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

Sleep disturbance is a significant health concern in the U.S., and while job strain — the combination of high job demands and low job control — is a known risk factor, evidence linking the two is limited, the researchers wrote. As such, they sought to examine longitudinal associations between job strain and sleep disturbances in the working population.

Their study culled data from two portions of the three-wave Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study and included noninstitutionalized, English-speaking persons aged 25 to 74 years who were working from 2004 to 2006 and followed-up from 2013 to 2017.

From an initial cohort of 2,349 individuals at baseline, 1,852 completed a follow-up survey and 1,721 individuals (mean age at baseline, 51.08 years; 52.47% women) were included in analysis, with an average follow-up of 9 years.

The researchers measured job strain using six formulations based on Karasek’s Job‐Demand‐Control model, with baseline measures recorded via a self-reported questionnaire.

Sleep disturbances were also self-reported and included assessments related to trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night and having difficulty going back to sleep, waking up too early in the morning and being unable to get back to sleep, and feeling unrested during the day no matter how many hours of sleep.

According to the results, all six formulations demonstrated that higher job strain at baseline carried significant associations with increased sleep disturbance during follow-up.

The researchers additionally reported that the individual effects of both job demands and job control measured at baseline were significantly associated with sleep disturbance.

“Strategies such as redesigning workloads and promoting worker autonomy could play an important role in improving sleep health and workers’ well-being,” Jian Li, MD, PhD, study author and professor of work and health in the departments of environmental health sciences and epidemiology at Fielding, said in a related press release.

Reference:

• Does job strain compromise long-term sleep quality? https://newsroom.wiley.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2025/Does-job-strain-compromise-long-term-sleep-quality/default.aspx. Published Jan. 8, 2025. Accessed Jan. 8, 2025.