Work-related rumination and worry at bedtime are associated with worse sleep indicators in schoolteachers: a study based on actigraphy and sleep diaries.

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Work-related rumination and worry are indicators of occupational stress which can impact sleep when they occur close to bedtime. This study examined the relationship between these repetitive thoughts before sleep with objective and subjective sleep parameters. METHODS: A microlongitudinal study was carried out with schoolteachers who answered questions on rumination and worry before sleep, wore a wrist actigraph, and completed a sleep diary for 5 to 7 consecutive days. Analysis used mixed-effects repeated measures linear models adjusted for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health status. RESULTS: Among the 134 schoolteachers studied, 64.9% were women and were aged 41.9 ± 9.5 years. In the fully adjusted analysis, actigraphy indicated that a wake-up time <6:30 a.m. was associated with both rumination (relative risk (RR) = 1.67; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.21-2.31) and worry (RR = 2.44; 95%CI = 1.63-3.64). Moreover, actigraphy-measured nighttime sleep duration <7 h (RR = 1.23; 95%CI = 1.03-1.47) and self-reported sleep latency >15 min (RR = 1.43; 95%CI = 1.02-2.02) were associated with work-related worry. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of work-related repetitive thoughts before sleep, particularly worry about next-day issues, is associated with an increased risk of impaired objective and subjective sleep indicators. These findings suggest that these cognitive processes related to work should be addressed in strategies aimed at preventing and treating sleep disturbances and their individual and occupational consequences.

Watching television for more than two hours increases the likelihood of reporting poor sleep quality among Brazilian schoolteachers.

Although time spent watching television and sleep problems have increased in the last few decades, it is unclear whether these conditions are associated in working adults after controlling for lifestyle, job characteristics and other individual aspects. The present study analyzed the association between time spent watching television and sleep quality among teachers from public schools in Londrina, Brazil. In this cross-sectional study, information from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and about time spent watching television was obtained during personal interviews. Logistic regression models adjusted by the main confounders (sociodemographic, occupational and lifestyle variables) were used in the analyses. Among the 959 studied teachers (68.2% women, median age: 42years), teachers who watched >120min/day had a higher likelihood of reporting poor sleep quality (PSQI>5) (odds ratio=1.41; 95% confidence interval=1.01; 1.98) compared with those who watched television for up to 60min/day, regardless of gender, age, work hours, leisure time physical activity and other lifestyle variables. This association did not remain significant after the adjustment for health conditions, i.e., obesity, anxiety, depression and chronic pain, which may act as confounding variables in the relationship between watching television and poor sleep quality. Watching television for >120min/day was independently associated with poorer sleep quality, which should be considered in the prevention and treatment of sleep disturbances among working population.