IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v66y2008i3p715-726.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is sleep really for sissies? Understanding the role of work in insomnia in the US

Author

Listed:
  • Henry, Doug
  • McClellen, Dana
  • Rosenthal, Leon
  • Dedrick, David
  • Gosdin, Melissa

Abstract

This study explores the role of work in patient narratives about their experiences with insomnia. "Work" includes such facets as the nature of one's occupation, the associated volume or amount of work required, mental demands related to work, work schedules and work-related stress. Interviews conducted with 24 patients aged between 22 and 74 receiving treatment for insomnia at one of two sleep medicine clinics in Oregon and Texas, USA, suggest that work is a pivotal influence in shaping interpretations of the nature of insomnia, its causes, and the efficacy of medical treatment. Results suggest correlations between sleeplessness and modern working lifestyles in American culture, in which labor seems to transcend the physical workplace, manifesting itself in the form of cognitive labor or continued problems into retirement. Patients often cite work as the primary causal agent in the development of their insomnia, their primary reason for needing "good" sleep, their impetus for seeking medical attention, and behavioral compliance with a medically prescribed regimen. Insomnia as an illness experience thus serves as a mechanism through which respondents consciously or unconsciously comment on the nature of work in their lives. The medical and social implications of these results are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Henry, Doug & McClellen, Dana & Rosenthal, Leon & Dedrick, David & Gosdin, Melissa, 2008. "Is sleep really for sissies? Understanding the role of work in insomnia in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 715-726, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:3:p:715-726
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(07)00535-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moreira, Tiago, 2006. "Sleep, health and the dynamics of biomedicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 54-63, July.
    2. Doi, Yuriko & Minowa, Masumi, 2003. "Gender differences in excessive daytime sleepiness among Japanese workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 883-894, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chadi, Cornelia, 2023. "Too stressed to sleep? Downsizing, job insecurity and sleep behavior," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Naoko Nishitani & Yurika Kawasaki & Hisataka Sakakibara, 2018. "Insomnia and depression: risk factors for development of depression in male Japanese workers during 2011–2013," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(1), pages 49-55, January.
    2. Coveney, Catherine M. & Nerlich, Brigitte & Martin, Paul, 2009. "Modafinil in the media: Metaphors, medicalisation and the body," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 487-495, February.
    3. Claude Robert & Concepción S. Wilson & Jean-François Gaudy & Charles-Daniel Arreto, 2007. "The evolution of the sleep science literature over 30 years: A bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 73(2), pages 231-256, November.
    4. Mebrahtom Zeru & Hiwot Berhanu & Andualem Mossie, 2020. "Magnitude of poor Sleep Quality and Associated Factors among Health Sciences Students in Jimma University, Southwest Ethiopia, 2017," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 25(3), pages 19145-19153, February.
    5. Aaro Hazak, 2017. "Non-creative tasks: a turn off for creative R&D employees," TUT Economic Research Series 28, Department of Finance and Economics, Tallinn University of Technology.
    6. Sekine, Michikazu & Tatsuse, Takashi & Kagamimori, Sadanobu & Chandola, Tarani & Cable, Noriko & Marmot, Michael & Martikainen, Pekka & Lallukka, Tea & Rahkonen, Ossi & Lahelma, Eero, 2011. "Sex inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control and work hours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 595-603, August.
    7. Huiping Zhu & Yunfeng Han & Yaowu Sun & Zhiping Xie & Xueyan Qian & Lorann Stallones & Huiyun Xiang & Limin Wang, 2014. "Sleep-Related Factors and Work-Related Injuries among Farmers in Heilongjiang Province, People’s Republic of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-14, September.
    8. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2010. "Sex differences in physical and mental functioning of Japanese civil servants: Explanations from work and family characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2091-2099, December.
    9. Erve Sõõru & Aaro Hazak & Marit Rebane, 2017. "Long working days and falling asleep at work – issues in R&D work efficiency," TUT Economic Research Series 38, Department of Finance and Economics, Tallinn University of Technology.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:3:p:715-726. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.