
This study highlights the need to consider sleep as a multidimensional and dynamic phenomenon that can vary significantly between individuals based on their work conditions. In addition, the results suggest possible interventions in work design, such as promoting active breaks for sedentary workers or adapting work schedules to improve employees’ sleep quality.
Healthy sleep is essential for well-being and productivity at work, but many workers face challenges in maintaining good quality sleep.
Studies show that there is a significant relationship between insomnia and the work environment. Factors such as sedentary work, irregular work schedules or night shifts can contribute to the development or worsening of insomnia.
A lack of physical activity during the day and the dysregulation of the sleep-wake cycle caused by atypical schedules can make it difficult to fall asleep and maintain continuous sleep.
In addition, work-related stress and excessive use of technology can also interfere with sleep quality, leading to a feeling of constant fatigue and reduced productivity. Therefore, the work environment plays a crucial role in employees’ sleep health.
This study investigates how technological changes in the workplace, such as constant computer use, the sedentary nature of many jobs, and unconventional work schedules, can negatively impact sleep health in the long term.

Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, which followed 1,297 full-time workers over approximately 10 years, the study examines several dimensions of sleep, including duration, regularity, time to fall asleep, insomnia symptoms, nap frequency, and daytime fatigue.
The research used a technique called latent transition analysis to identify three main patterns of sleep health among participants over time:
1- Good sleepers, who maintain consistent sleep quality;
2- Recovery sleepers, who compensate for lack of sleep by napping or sleeping more on days off;
3- Insomniac sleepers, who experience persistent difficulty sleeping and insomnia symptoms.
The results show that sedentary work is associated with the insomniac sleeper phenotype, while non-traditional work schedules, such as night shifts or irregular hours, are linked to the recovery sleeper phenotype.

This suggests that the way work is designed can have a direct impact on employees’ sleep health.
These findings not only challenge assumptions of traditional work design models, but also offer insights into how sleep health can be better understood and addressed in organizational science.
They point to the need to consider sleep as a multidimensional and dynamic phenomenon that can vary significantly between individuals based on their work conditions.
In addition, the results suggest potential work design interventions, such as providing active breaks for sedentary workers or adapting work schedules to improve employees’ sleep quality.
READ MORE:
Designing work for healthy sleep: A multidimensional, latent transition approach to employee sleep health.
Smith CE, Lee S, Allen TD, Wallace ML, Andel R, Buxton OM, Patel SR, & Almeida DM
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 29(6), 409–430.
Abstract:
Healthy sleep is essential to employee well-being and productivity, but many modern workers do not obtain adequate sleep. Are technology-related changes to job design (i.e., computer use, sedentary work, nontraditional work schedules) related to long-term worsening of employee sleep health? The present study seeks to address this question using nationally representative data from the Midlife in the United States study, which includes detailed information on sleep duration, regularity, sleep onset latency, insomnia symptoms, napping, and daytime tiredness from full-time workers (N = 1,297) at two time points separated by approximately 10 years. Using latent transition analysis to consider how these sleep health dimensions co-occur, we identify three multidimensional sleep health phenotypes at both time points: good sleepers, catch-up sleepers, and insomnia sleepers. Sedentary work is linked to the insomnia sleeper phenotype. Nontraditional work schedules are linked to the catch-up sleeper phenotype. These findings test assumptions of modern models of job design regarding the impact of technology on employee sleep health and advance measurement of sleep health in the organizational sciences to be multidimensional and dynamic. Further, results point to specific sleep needs in the working adult population and identify potential points of intervention via job design.
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