The Relationship Between Stress and Sleep Sufficiency in the Context of Varied Workplace Social Support

Abstract

Objective: Sufficient sleep is essential for well-being. We examined the relationship between work-related social support, work stress, and sleep sufficiency, predicting that workers with higher social support would report higher sleep sufficiency across varying levels of work stress.

Methods: The data set analyzed in the present study included 2213 workers from approximately 200 small (<500 employees) businesses in high, medium, and low hazard industries across Colorado.

Results: Perceived social support variables moderated the relationship between work stress and sleep sufficiency such that employees reporting higher levels of social support reported higher sleep sufficiency when work stress was low or moderate but not high.

Conclusions: Although preventing work stress is optimal, in cases where employers cannot apply primary interventions to prevent stress (eg, eliminating/reducing night shifts), employers should attempt to increase social support or other more relevant resources for employees.