Job Stress And Poor Sleep Quality
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. - Albert Einstein
As many as 70 million Americans suffer from some kind of chronic sleep disorder and previous research has shown that this lack of sleep can have serious consequences ranging from traffic accidents, to health problems, chronic disease and mortality. This does not even include the significant quality of life issues. This article looks at the new science relating work, stress and sleep, and offers some ideas about what we can do with this information.
"Together work and sleep take up about two-thirds of every weekday", according to Sarah Burgard, Ph.D., a professor and research scientist at the University of Michigan, "But until now, very little research has focused on the connections between work and sleep for the average US. Worker." She and doctoral student Jennifer Ailshire, recently presented their study analyzing two nationally representative samples of approximately 2300 U.S. adults that monitored the same workers for up to a decade. In so doing, they produced the first U.S. study to clarify the link between work and sleep quality for all workers, not just rotating shift workers or medical students who have unusual work and sleep arrangements.
When Burgard and Ailshire's most recent work,"U-M Study: Work Hassles Hamper Sleep" was announced a few weeks ago, I was so intrigued that I contacted them to learn more. Their results were startling. The analysis showed after controlling for many other factors, respondents who felt upset or bothered at work on a frequent basis, or had ongoing personal conflicts with bosses or co-workers, were about 1.7 times more likely to develop sleep problems.
Burgard pointed out that "Massive changes of the past half-century have reshaped the workplace, with many implications for sleep." She also indicated that "For many workers, psychological stress has replaced physical hazards. Physical strain at work tends to create physical fatigue and leads to restorative sleep, but psychological strain has the opposite effect, making if difficult for people to sleep"
What I find particularly fascinating about this study is that because this is a prospective study, (following the same people over time), Burgard and Ailshire were able to show that work conditions affected sleep patterns, rather than the other way around.
How does your work stress affect your sleep or the sleep patterns of your workers? How can you as an individual or you as a leader begin to implement changes that will reduce work stress?
Here are a few thoughts from Dr. Donna Arand, Clinical Director of the Kettering Sleep Disorders Center in Dayton, Ohio: "Insomnia is a part of the individual way each of us handle stress." She describes it as "a normal response to occasional stress." "If it's the night before your presentation at work, or the night before your divorce, it's a natural response". What's not natural, Arand explains, "Is if it becomes chronic. And that usually happens when you focus on the fact that you're not sleeping, rather than the stressor that actually caused the problem." She further describes the self-fulfilling prophesy created by people who begin to believe that they have a "sleep problem" and then worry about "What will happen tonight?"
There are many things that you can do to reduce work stress, both at work itself and as it "bleeds over" into what should be personal time. A few examples are:
1. Stop the 24/7. You control the technology; it doesn't control you. In this era of Blackberries, cell phones and fax machines it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have to be "on" all the time. Don't do it. Set expectations that are reasonable for your staff and for yourself and hold to them. Make it clear to everyone that you do not check your e-mail constantly, and that you turn off the cell phone and fax after a defined time.
2. Prepare for a good start. My favorite way to do this is to plan the day before. I like to take five minutes to straighten my desk and write down my priorities for the next day. That way I walk in and I'm relaxed and ready to go, knowing exactly what's most important for me to accomplish and when. Also, this may seem obvious, but think about your morning at home. What would it take for you to have a stress-free morning before you get to work? Do you need to get up 15 minutes earlier so that you're not racing to be to work on time? Do you need to get a little breakfast, and your "work fuel" ready the night before? Would you be more relaxed if you laid out what you are planning on wearing, making sure everything is clean and pressed and ready to go? Would getting up half an hour earlier, or enlisting the aide of a spouse make all the difference with a screaming-at-your-kids-to-get-out-the-door morning, or a more pleasant beginning?
3. Cut back on caffeine. An easy way to do this is to cut your consumption in half, for example, if you normally have eight 6 oz. cups of coffee (or another caffeinated beverage), alternate. Have one cup of caffeinated beverage, and at your next usual time, a cup of a de-cafe' or no-cafe' beverage, etc. so that at the end of the day you have had four 6 oz. caffeinated beverages. Do this for a week. Then the following week, cut your consumption in half again, and in half again until you are down to one or two cups a day, ending by 2:00 to 5:00 PM depending on your normal bedtime and body's sensitivity.
4. Build de-stress breaks into your day. Whether you learn three stretches for desk sitters, close your door and do a little yoga or deep breathing, go out to your car in the parking lot and listen to a some music, or just walk to another building and back, build multiple 5-10 minute breaks into you day to decrease stress, and as a bonus, improve thinking.
5. Eat. It may seem-counter intuitive given many people's tendency to overeat in response to stress, but I encourage clients to think of their work day as a long race that needs frequent stops for refueling. Coping abilities go down, and irritability goes up when blood sugar fluctuates wildly. Many people function better on frequent mini-meals and snacks of healthy foods, rather than skipping meals, and long gaps between big meals. I encourage my clients to think of themselves as elite athletes who, for maximum performance, should plan to eat something good for themselves every two 1/2 to three hours. (This also virtually eliminates the tendency to eat three doughnuts, or raid the junk food machine in the late afternoon because they are ravenous.)
6. Plan and encourage "walking meetings" If you do it, others will. An added bonus is this often makes for shorter and very effective meetings.
7. Schedule Exercise. It's very easy when you get home to either get very busy in the duties of family and household, or alternatively, to come home and sit down and "get stuck", and not feel like moving again for the rest of the evening. For this reason it's important to schedule exercise, to put it on you calendar and to block out the time. If possible, bring your bag and go straight to the gym after work, better yet, meet a friend there. If you are a parent, schedule exercise time, and put it on the calendar, and make arrangements with your spouse or other caregiver to "cover" for you for those designated times. All the research shows that regular exercise is the single most important thing that you can do to relieve stress, and that (as Dr. Armand indicated) makes us physically tired so that we can sleep better. Just try not to do very strenuous or aerobic exercise within a few hours of your bedtime, as in the short-term it can be energizing.
8. Make Friday "Sneakers Day" This is one of the many great ideas from the American Heart Association's "Start-Fit Friendly" Program for employers. Studies have shown when people where comfortable clothes, especially shoes, they walk more, always a good thing. Some companies may want to just offer it as a perk to employees; others may want to charge the employees a small fee, such as $2-$5. for the "privilege" of wearing sneakers and contribute the money to a good cause (like the Heart Association) or to a prize such as a drawing for a pedometer, or a massage, or a gift certificate for a dinner out. In all cases, companies will likely want to post signs so that clients and customers know why employees will know why employees are wearing sneakers and for what reason(s) they are doing it.
9. Don't check e-mail before bed. This may seem like a "no-brainer" since checking e-mail in the last couple of hours before bedtime may turn up a problem or project that can make it difficult to relax and sleep, but in fact, there is another very good reason not to do this: recent research has shown that close exposure to the light level provided by most monitors late in the evening can actually interfere with circadian rhythm and interfere with normal sleep patterns.
As many as 70 million Americans suffer from some kind of chronic sleep disorder and previous research has shown that this lack of sleep can have serious consequences ranging from traffic accidents, to health problems, chronic disease and mortality. This does not even include the significant quality of life issues. This article looks at the new science relating work, stress and sleep, and offers some ideas about what we can do with this information.
Click for Natural Sleep Secrets Cure Insomnia
"Together work and sleep take up about two-thirds of every weekday", according to Sarah Burgard, Ph.D., a professor and research scientist at the University of Michigan, "But until now, very little research has focused on the connections between work and sleep for the average US. Worker." She and doctoral student Jennifer Ailshire, recently presented their study analyzing two nationally representative samples of approximately 2300 U.S. adults that monitored the same workers for up to a decade. In so doing, they produced the first U.S. study to clarify the link between work and sleep quality for all workers, not just rotating shift workers or medical students who have unusual work and sleep arrangements.
When Burgard and Ailshire's most recent work,"U-M Study: Work Hassles Hamper Sleep" was announced a few weeks ago, I was so intrigued that I contacted them to learn more. Their results were startling. The analysis showed after controlling for many other factors, respondents who felt upset or bothered at work on a frequent basis, or had ongoing personal conflicts with bosses or co-workers, were about 1.7 times more likely to develop sleep problems.
Burgard pointed out that "Massive changes of the past half-century have reshaped the workplace, with many implications for sleep." She also indicated that "For many workers, psychological stress has replaced physical hazards. Physical strain at work tends to create physical fatigue and leads to restorative sleep, but psychological strain has the opposite effect, making if difficult for people to sleep"
What I find particularly fascinating about this study is that because this is a prospective study, (following the same people over time), Burgard and Ailshire were able to show that work conditions affected sleep patterns, rather than the other way around.
How does your work stress affect your sleep or the sleep patterns of your workers? How can you as an individual or you as a leader begin to implement changes that will reduce work stress?
Here are a few thoughts from Dr. Donna Arand, Clinical Director of the Kettering Sleep Disorders Center in Dayton, Ohio: "Insomnia is a part of the individual way each of us handle stress." She describes it as "a normal response to occasional stress." "If it's the night before your presentation at work, or the night before your divorce, it's a natural response". What's not natural, Arand explains, "Is if it becomes chronic. And that usually happens when you focus on the fact that you're not sleeping, rather than the stressor that actually caused the problem." She further describes the self-fulfilling prophesy created by people who begin to believe that they have a "sleep problem" and then worry about "What will happen tonight?"
There are many things that you can do to reduce work stress, both at work itself and as it "bleeds over" into what should be personal time. A few examples are:
1. Stop the 24/7. You control the technology; it doesn't control you. In this era of Blackberries, cell phones and fax machines it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have to be "on" all the time. Don't do it. Set expectations that are reasonable for your staff and for yourself and hold to them. Make it clear to everyone that you do not check your e-mail constantly, and that you turn off the cell phone and fax after a defined time.
2. Prepare for a good start. My favorite way to do this is to plan the day before. I like to take five minutes to straighten my desk and write down my priorities for the next day. That way I walk in and I'm relaxed and ready to go, knowing exactly what's most important for me to accomplish and when. Also, this may seem obvious, but think about your morning at home. What would it take for you to have a stress-free morning before you get to work? Do you need to get up 15 minutes earlier so that you're not racing to be to work on time? Do you need to get a little breakfast, and your "work fuel" ready the night before? Would you be more relaxed if you laid out what you are planning on wearing, making sure everything is clean and pressed and ready to go? Would getting up half an hour earlier, or enlisting the aide of a spouse make all the difference with a screaming-at-your-kids-to-get-out-the-door morning, or a more pleasant beginning?
3. Cut back on caffeine. An easy way to do this is to cut your consumption in half, for example, if you normally have eight 6 oz. cups of coffee (or another caffeinated beverage), alternate. Have one cup of caffeinated beverage, and at your next usual time, a cup of a de-cafe' or no-cafe' beverage, etc. so that at the end of the day you have had four 6 oz. caffeinated beverages. Do this for a week. Then the following week, cut your consumption in half again, and in half again until you are down to one or two cups a day, ending by 2:00 to 5:00 PM depending on your normal bedtime and body's sensitivity.
Click for Natural Sleep Secrets Cure Insomnia
4. Build de-stress breaks into your day. Whether you learn three stretches for desk sitters, close your door and do a little yoga or deep breathing, go out to your car in the parking lot and listen to a some music, or just walk to another building and back, build multiple 5-10 minute breaks into you day to decrease stress, and as a bonus, improve thinking.
5. Eat. It may seem-counter intuitive given many people's tendency to overeat in response to stress, but I encourage clients to think of their work day as a long race that needs frequent stops for refueling. Coping abilities go down, and irritability goes up when blood sugar fluctuates wildly. Many people function better on frequent mini-meals and snacks of healthy foods, rather than skipping meals, and long gaps between big meals. I encourage my clients to think of themselves as elite athletes who, for maximum performance, should plan to eat something good for themselves every two 1/2 to three hours. (This also virtually eliminates the tendency to eat three doughnuts, or raid the junk food machine in the late afternoon because they are ravenous.)
6. Plan and encourage "walking meetings" If you do it, others will. An added bonus is this often makes for shorter and very effective meetings.
7. Schedule Exercise. It's very easy when you get home to either get very busy in the duties of family and household, or alternatively, to come home and sit down and "get stuck", and not feel like moving again for the rest of the evening. For this reason it's important to schedule exercise, to put it on you calendar and to block out the time. If possible, bring your bag and go straight to the gym after work, better yet, meet a friend there. If you are a parent, schedule exercise time, and put it on the calendar, and make arrangements with your spouse or other caregiver to "cover" for you for those designated times. All the research shows that regular exercise is the single most important thing that you can do to relieve stress, and that (as Dr. Armand indicated) makes us physically tired so that we can sleep better. Just try not to do very strenuous or aerobic exercise within a few hours of your bedtime, as in the short-term it can be energizing.
8. Make Friday "Sneakers Day" This is one of the many great ideas from the American Heart Association's "Start-Fit Friendly" Program for employers. Studies have shown when people where comfortable clothes, especially shoes, they walk more, always a good thing. Some companies may want to just offer it as a perk to employees; others may want to charge the employees a small fee, such as $2-$5. for the "privilege" of wearing sneakers and contribute the money to a good cause (like the Heart Association) or to a prize such as a drawing for a pedometer, or a massage, or a gift certificate for a dinner out. In all cases, companies will likely want to post signs so that clients and customers know why employees will know why employees are wearing sneakers and for what reason(s) they are doing it.
9. Don't check e-mail before bed. This may seem like a "no-brainer" since checking e-mail in the last couple of hours before bedtime may turn up a problem or project that can make it difficult to relax and sleep, but in fact, there is another very good reason not to do this: recent research has shown that close exposure to the light level provided by most monitors late in the evening can actually interfere with circadian rhythm and interfere with normal sleep patterns.
Click for Natural Sleep Secrets Cure Insomnia
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