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Social Stressors at Work, Sleep, and Recovery

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Abstract

Many employees in service work are required to work on Saturdays, recovering during work-free Sundays and working again Mondays. We examined the effects of social stressors at work on recovery status at Sunday noon and Monday noon, and investigated if sleep quality mediates the negative effects of social stressors at work on recovery. From Saturday until Monday morning, 41 participants wore actigraphs to measure sleep duration and sleep fragmentation. Social stressors at work were assessed by self-reported questionnaires administered on Saturday. Recovery status was reported Sunday noon and Monday noon. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that social stressors at work were negatively related to recovery status on Sunday and on Monday. Supporting our assumptions, more social stressors at work predicted higher sleep fragmentation in the night to Monday. A mediation effect of sleep quality, however, was not found. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Diana Pereira, Sven Gross & Achim Elfering

  2. National Centre of Competence in Research, Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, CISA, Geneva, Switzerland

    Achim Elfering

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  1. Diana Pereira
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  2. Sven Gross
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  3. Achim Elfering
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Correspondence to Achim Elfering.

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Pereira, D., Gross, S. & Elfering, A. Social Stressors at Work, Sleep, and Recovery. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 41, 93–101 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-015-9317-6

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