Unemployment Disrupts Sleep

Abstract

Although there is a substantial literature indicating that unemployment and joblessness have profound adverse impacts on individuals' health and wellbeing, there is relatively little evidence of their impact on sleep. Using data for over 3.5 million individuals in the United States over the period 2006-2019 from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey series we show sleep disruption patterns that vary by labor market status. We look at sleep measured by hours in a day and days in a month and whether sleep is disturbed over a fortnight, as indicated by problems falling or staying asleep or staying asleep too much. We find the short-term unemployed suffer more short and long sleep than the employed and are more likely to suffer from disturbed sleep. These problems are greater still for the long-term unemployed and for the jobless who say they are unable to work.

The U‐shape of happiness in Scotland

“…There are inverted U‐shapes for nine of the 12 components based on differentiating with respect to age and solving for the minima obtained using a quadratic in age. Interestingly, sleeplessness has an inverted U‐shape consistent with the findings of Blanchflower and Bryson (2020) who found that sleep duration in the USA followed a U‐shape in age.…”

“…There is a hill‐shape in anti‐depressant use which maximizes in the mid‐40s in European countries (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2016). There are U‐shapes in sleep duration (Blanchflower & Bryson, 2020). The U‐shape pattern in midlife even extends beyond humans to apes (Weiss et al., 2012).…”

Stay-at-home orders and the willingness to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic: A stated-preference discrete choice experiment

“…New Mexico also re-implemented a two-week SAH order that was in effect from November 16 through November 30, 2020. While such policies lower the transmission rate [1][2][3], reduced economic activity and social interactions due to the lockdown have also resulted in economic and psychological costs [4][5][6][7].…”

The U-shape of Happiness in Scotland

“…There is a hill-shape in anti-depressant use which maximizes in the mid-40s in European countries (Blanchflower and Oswald, 2016). There are U-shapes in sleep duration (Blanchflower and Bryson, 2020). The Ushape pattern in mid-life even extends beyond humans to apes (Weiss et al, 2012).…”