Elsevier

Sleep Medicine

Volume 91, March 2022, Pages 185-188
Sleep Medicine

Original Article
Insomnia among employees in occupations with critical societal functions during the COVID-19 pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2021.02.025Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Symptoms of insomnia are elevated among workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Worrying about COVID-19 health consequences can contribute to insomnia.

  • Work stress has a stronger association to insomnia symptoms than job demands have.

Abstract

Objective

This study investigates insomnia among employees in occupations critical to the functioning of society (e.g health, education, welfare and emergency services) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these workers experience higher job pressure and increased risk of infection due to their work. It is crucial to investigate which factors that can contribute to insomnia in these important sectors.

Methods

Data was collected using an online survey administered in June 2020. The questionnaire measured demographic variables, sleep, stress, psychosocial factors and health concerns (i.e worrying about health consequences related to the pandemic). The sample in the present study consisted of 1327 (76% females) employees in organizations with societal critical functions.

Results

The employees reported higher levels of insomnia symptoms compared to normative data collected before the pandemic. Health concerns specifically related to COVID-19 had the strongest association to insomnia, followed by work stress. Job demands (i.e workload, time pressure and overtime) had merely a weak association to insomnia.

Conclusion

Worrying about consequences the pandemic can have on your own health and the health of your family or colleagues have a stronger negative impact on sleep than work pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Impaired sleep can have detrimental effects on performance and health, and a stronger focus on preventing insomnia as a mean of sustaining critical societal functions both during and after the pandemic is warranted. Organizations should consider interventions aimed at reducing health concerns among their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

Sleep
Insomnia
Health concerns
Worrying
Employee
COVID-19

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