Trending News: Link drawn between work stress, poor sleep and heart health
Men around the world are having trouble getting to sleep.
Two months ago, an anonymous poster asked the subreddit forum “Ask Men Over 30” if users have trouble sleeping.
As the poster wrote:
“I don’t recall the last time I got a truly good night of sleep. I wake up tossing and turning, or lay on my arms until they fall asleep and I have to extract roll myself over, or I seem to sleep ok but get up feeling tired.”
The poster then insisted that he doesn't have any health issues and is specifically talking about staying asleep throughout the night.
In response, redditors gave book suggestions, suggestions on where to seek medical help, and their own stories. But it’s one specific response that got our attention. One redditor shared that he experienced a similar problem caused by work stress.
“I had some trouble, turns out it was stress. I started a new job (my own company), and my sleep pattern completely changed,” said the commenter before admitting he, “didn't realize it was stress. It didn't seem like stress, but it was. I just hated that place so much that after I left I found myself able to sleep all night, and on occasion even napped during the day.”
Related: Can turning off the blue light on a smartphone help with sleep?
Stress Study
Work pressures and stress play big factors in our sleep. More men should be aware of this.
In fact, a new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology for the European Society of Cardiology shows a link between work stress and trouble sleeping.
“Sleep should be a time for recreation, unwinding, and restoring energy levels,” said Professor Karl-Heinz Ladwig of the German Research Centre for Environmental Health and the Medical Faculty, Technical University of Munich. “If you have stress at work, sleep helps you recover. Unfortunately poor sleep and job stress often go hand in hand, and when combined with hypertension the effect is even more toxic.”
The study analyzed 1,959 workers between the ages of 25 and 65. At the start of the study, researchers made sure that none of the participants had diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
The results of the study found that people with work stress and bad sleep were three times more likely to be diagnosed for and die from cardiovascular disease. Also, people with work stress alone had a 1.6-fold higher risk, and those with only poor sleep had a 1.8 times higher risk.
Related: Why Playing Hard To Get Works, per Study
How To Change Things
Then, Professor Ladwig shared that bad sleep is an especially terrible subset of stressful work.
“Maintaining sleep is the most common problem in people with stressful jobs,” he said. “They wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to go to the toilet and come back to bed ruminating about how to deal with work issues.”
“These are insidious problems,” he added. “The risk is not having one tough day and no sleep. It is suffering from a stressful job and poor sleep over many years, which [deplete] energy resources and may lead to an early grave.”
The study then provided some solutions for men experiencing these problems such as blood pressure-lowering medication, “Physical activity, eating healthily, and relaxation strategies.”
Researchers then suggest employers provide stress management and sleep treatment in the workplace, especially for staff with chronic conditions like hypertension.
But what about you guys? Are you experiencing impaired sleep? Is it work related? Tell us down in the comments below.
