Job strain, work rumination, and sleep in school teachers

Abstract

The objectives of this study were, firstly, to examine the association between job strain and sleep quality in a sample of primary and secondary school teachers and, secondly, to assess whether the relationship between job strain and sleep quality is mediated or moderated by an individual's inability to 'switch-off' from work related issues during leisure time. School teachers (N = 143) completed an hourly record of their work related thoughts over a workday evening between 5 pm and bedtime, and then rated their sleep quality the following morning. Individuals were classified as reporting high (n =462) or low (n = 52) job strain using predetermined cut-off scores.Consistent with previous research, the results showed that both groups demonstrated a degree of unwinding and disengagement from work issues over the evening. However, compared to the low job strain group, the high job strain teachers took longer to unwind and ruminated more about work related issues, over the whole evening, including bedtime. There was no difference in total sleep time between the groups, but high job strain individuals reported poorer sleep quality compared to low job strain individuals. With respect to the second objective, across the whole sample (N = 143), work rumination and job strain were significantly correlated with sleep quality, but work rumination was not found to mediate, or moderate the relationship between job strain and sleep quality. It was speculated that the initial low contribution of job strain to sleep quality (r = -.18) may have contributed to this null finding. The current findings may have implications for how we assess and manage sleep disturbance in stressed workers.3

The power of presence: The role of mindfulness at work for daily levels and change trajectories of psychological detachment and sleep quality.

“…This results in continued psychophysiological activation during non-work time that hinders sleep (Querstret & Cropley, 2012). Empirically, the link of psychological detachment/work-related rumination with sleep quality has been established both in crosssectional and longitudinal studies (Åkerstedt, Nordin, Alfredsson, Westerholm, & Kecklund, 2012;Cropley, Dijk, & Stanley, 2006;Querstret & Cropley, 2012). We therefore hypothesized mindfulness to be related to daily sleep quality and expected psychological detachment from work to play a mediating role.…”

Internet-based instructor-led mindfulness for work-related rumination, fatigue, and sleep: Assessing facets of mindfulness as mechanisms of change. A randomized waitlist control trial.

“…It is also associated with increased physical symptom reporting (Hazlett & Haynes, 1992), intrusive off-task thoughts (Sarason, Pierce, & Sarason, 1996), negative self-evaluations, diminished feelings of control and feelings of helplessness (Lyubomirsky, Kasri, & Zehm, 2003). Furthermore, laboratory studies have shown prolonged physiological arousal and delayed recovery in individuals who ruminate (Roger & Jamieson, 1988) and many studies show that rumination interferes with sleep (Akerstedt et al, 2002;Berset, Elfering, Luthy, Luthi, & Semmer, 2011;Cropley et al, 2006;Querstret & Cropley, 2012;Thomsen, Mehlsen, Christensen, & Zachariae, 2003;Thomsen, Mehlsen, Hokland, Viidik, Olesen, Arlund et al, 2004;Zoccola, Dickerson, & Lam, 2009). 9 Fatigue, sleep and recovery from work Fatigue, driven by increased psychophysiological workload and reduced sleep, has been recognised as a major consequence of increased work intensity (Harma, Kompier, & Vahtera, 2006).…”

“…While there are several cross-sectional 11 studies (Akerstedt et al, 2002;Geiger-Brown, Trinkoff, & Rogers, 2011), and a few longitudinal studies (Burgard & Ailshire, 2009;de Lange, Kompier, Taris, Geurts, Beckers, Houtman, et al, 2009) demonstrating an association between work-related stress and sleep, the mechanism/s by which occupational stress influences sleep remain uncertain. However, the sleep literature agrees that one of the factors thought to interfere with sleep is perseverative thinking (e.g., rumination, worry), with self-reported sleep disturbance showing a strong association with work-related worries and rumination (Akerstedt et al, 2002;Cropley et al, 2006).…”

Exploring the relationship between work-related rumination, sleep quality, and work-related fatigue.

“…People who work in demanding environments often complain of sleep disturbance and attribute this to work-related rumination (Berset, Elfering, Luthy, & Semmer, 2010). Furthermore, many researchers have found significant negative associations between self-reported rumination and sleep quality (Cropley et al, 2006;Thomsen, Mehlsen, Christensen, & Zachariae, 2003;Thomsen, Mehlsen, Hokland, Viidik, Olesen, Avlund, Munk, & Zachariae, 2004); and anticipative rumination has been found to be associated with both subjective and objective sleep measures . Experimental studies also provide support for an association between rumination and sleep; e.g., longer sleep onset latency has been observed in high trait ruminators (Zoccola, Dickerson, & Lam, 2009).…”

“…Research has shown that inadequate recovery outside of work is associated with a number of poor health outcomes including: increased risk of cardiovascular disease (Suadicani, Hein, & Gyntelberg, 1993), negative mood (Pravettoni, Cropley, Leotta, & Bagnara, 2007), sleep problems and fatigue (Cropley, Dijk, & Stanley, 2006;Akerstedt, Fredlund, Gillberg, & Jansson, 2002;Nylen, Melin, & Laflamme, 2007).…”