For more and more people it is becoming more and more difficult to draw the line between work and free time. Often they don’t succeed in turning off thoughts about work at home; this interferes with sleep. Psychologist Jolien Vleeshouwers of the National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, and her team tried to determine the job worries that keep awake the most. In the study, more than 5,000 men and women were questioned. Here, the top four kinds of worries that care for sleepless nights have been determined.
The four most frequent job worries
- #1 Amount of work
An amount of work that is hardly manageable is the biggest worry of the people questioned. - #2 Low freedom of action
Restful sleep is impaired by the fact that people concerned have few independency in their company. - #3 Role conflicts
Disturbed role conflicts are a further massive sleep robber. Disturbed role conflicts are tasks and expectations of superiors that don’t reflect the personal targets and values. - #4 Missing manual and emotional support
The last of the four most frequent job worries is that the questioned people are missing a manual and emotional support of their employer.
This led Vleeshouwers and her colleagues to the conclusion that these four kinds of job worries could easily be prevented. It is up to the companies to individually fight the worries of their employees or on the basis of prevention programs.
Increased risk of accident due to lack of sleep
According to the Swiss Accident Insurance (Suva) not only exhaustion and disorders occur due to lack of sleep but also the risk of an accident increases. In a study conducted by the Suva it became visible that per year 53,000 occupational accidents happen because of sleep disturbances, mostly accidents by stumbling or falling as well as injuries by machines or tools.
Ways to counteract lack of sleep caused by job worries
If you lack sleep allow yourself a short time of regeneration during the day with a power nap. When you are troubled by job worries, try relaxation exercises like yoga, autogenous training, 4-7-8 breathing technique etc.
Often, a comfortable walk in the evening in fresh air is helpful in bringing the day to a relaxed end. Here you can think about distressing things – often solutions are much easier at hand in nature.
Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.
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Sources: Study „Effects of Psychological and Social Work Factors on Self-Reported Sleep Disturbance and Difficulties Initiating Sleep“ (http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=30538); Study Suva (http://www.20min.ch/wissen/news/story/53-000-Arbeitsunfaelle-pro-Jahr-wegen-Schlafmangel-23297725)