Sleep—it’s a precious commodity. It’s also a basic necessity for good mental and physical health. Considered a critically important process for brain and body recovery, sleep allows the brain to rest and restore. Yet, when the lights go out, many of us struggle with finding that sweet relief.
Studies have shown that sleep problems are associated with impaired well-being, increased risk of depression, and insufficient performance at work. Lack of sleep or poor sleep quality may also affect the way we react to stressors, effectively lowering our ability to appropriately perceive stress. The chasm between the actual amounts of stress we are experiencing and our perceived level of stress often results in frustrating sleepless nights.
The ability to detach from work at the end of the day is also necessary for brain restoration and recovery. Inability to disconnect and unwind from the workday has been linked to lower work production, fatigue, depression, and—unsurprisingly—problems with sleep.
Overall, research into interventions for reducing insomnia and workplace stress is limited. Many scientific studies have suggested that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) can successfully treat insomnia. However, some studies, especially those focused on people with stress-induced insomnia, have shown that CBT has a lesser effect. Moreover, research specifically examining interventions that target impaired sleep in employees with workplace stress has produced mixed results. This relative lack of rigorous evaluation of interventions targeting work-related impaired sleep is surprising given the extensive research linking stress and poor psychological detachment from work to impaired sleep.
Researchers Evaluate Internet-Based Health Interventions that Help People Leave Work at Work
Dr. David D. Ebert of Friedrich-Alexander University and Harvard University studies interventions aimed at improving work-related sleep disturbances. In a study recently published in the journal Health Psychology, Ebert developed and evaluated an internet-based intervention that aimed to improve recovery from work-related strain in teachers who had sleeping problems. Ebert chose to focus on teachers because they are known to be highly affected by work-related stress and struggle with keeping work life and private life separate. The intervention aimed to teach participants restorative behaviors to improve their sleep problems.
Ebert set out to evaluate a self-guided, internet-based occupational recovery training among 128 teachers. The teachers were randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a waitlist control condition.
The intervention included six internet-based training sessions that promoted healthy restorative behavior. The sessions focused on:
- The interconnection between sleep, psychological detachment, and the utilization of recreational activities
- Stimulus control and sleep restriction
- Boundary tactics including practical behaviors that help to distinguish work and private life
- Psychoeducation on work-related rumination and worrying, their effects on sleep, and strategies to overcome harmful cognitions
- Metacognitive techniques such as detached mindfulness and attention training
- Future planning, where participants reflected on which strategies they would apply in future daily routines
The sessions included articles, exercises, and testimonies, as well as audio and video clips, and were designed to be completed in 45 to 60 minutes. The researchers recommended that participants complete one session per week. Participants self-reported data at baseline and again after eight weeks and also completed a seven-day sleep diary starting one week before baseline.
Study Shows improvements in insomnia and Work-Related Stress Following Internet-Based Health Interventions
The study found that teachers who participated in the intervention experienced a significant reduction in insomnia, as well as a reduction in work-related stress and rumination compared to teachers in the control group. The positive effects remained after six months.
Researchers concluded that internet-based self-help interventions that focus on psychological detachment from work and improving sleep can help people decrease work-related stress and its negative consequences, including insomnia and other sleep impairments.
The self-guided aspect of the intervention is also notable. It has been previously suggested that internet-based self-help interventions without guidance are less effective than those with professional guidance. However, Ebert and his colleagues argue that this study provides important evidence that even small, self-guided interventions can produce clinically meaningful results.
Read the Article
Photo credit: Shutterstock/ Photographee.eu
