Reducing Work-Family Conflict May Improve Sleep

When managers and employees got more support in workplace, everyone got more rest, study says

MONDAY, Jan. 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Employees enrolled in a program to reduce work-family conflicts reported improved sleep, a new study says.

"We showed that an intervention focused on changing the workplace culture could increase the measured amount of sleep employees obtain, as well as their perception that their sleep was more sufficient," said lead investigator Orfeu Buxton of Pennsylvania State University.

The study included hundreds of randomly selected managers and employees at an information technology firm in the United States. The three-month program, which was designed to lessen work-family conflict, included discussion groups, role-playing and games.

Managers in the program were also trained on how to be supportive of employees' family demands.

Twelve months later, program participants slept an hour more each week and were more likely to feel they had sufficient sleep than those who weren't in the program, according to the study published Jan. 26 in the journal Sleep Health.

"Work can be a calling and inspirational, as well as a paycheck, but work should not be detrimental to health. It is possible to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of work by reducing work-family conflict, and improving sleep," Buxton said in a journal news release.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about sleep.

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