%0 Journal Article
%T Sleep Characteristics, Sleep Problems, and Associations to Quality of Life among Psychotherapists
%A Angelika A. Schlarb
%A Dorota Reis
%A Annette Schr£żder
%J Sleep Disorders
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/806913
%X Sleep problems, especially insomnia, are a common complaint among adults. International studies have shown prevalence rates between 4.7 and 36.2% for sleep difficulties in general, whereas 13.1¨C28.1% report insomnia symptoms. Sleep problems are associated with lower social and academic performance and can have a severe impact on psychological and physical health. Psychotherapists are suppliers within the public health system. The goal of this study was to outline sleep characteristics, prevalence of sleep problems, insomnia, and associations of quality of life among psychotherapists. A total of 774 psychotherapists (74.7% women; mean age 46 years) participated in the study. Sleep characteristics, sleep problems, well-being, life satisfaction and workload, as well as specific job demands, were assessed via a questionnaire. Analyses revealed that more than 4.2% of the surveyed psychotherapists have difficulties falling asleep, 12.7% often wake up in the night, and 26.6% feel tired, and 3.4% think that their interrupted sleep affects work performance. About 44.1% of them suffer from symptoms of insomnia. Path models showed that insomnia is significantly related to well-being and life satisfaction. 1. Introduction Sleep is fundamental for physical and emotional recovery. Therefore, sleeping well is essential to overcome successfully daily hassles and to prevent long-term negative effects of stress on health. In general, health or good sleep seems to be very important for both physiological and psychological well-being. Stress leads to psychological and physiological arousal, and, therefore, leads to impaired sleep [1]. Work overload is connected with several sleep difficulties, such as difficulty falling asleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, and nonrestorative, sleep [2]. Furthermore, people who perceive their work as hectic or exhausting suffer from disturbed sleep and fatigue significantly more often [3]. Stress due to an imbalance between effort and reward seems to be connected with sleep disturbances [4], whereas this association seems to be more common amongst men [5]. Linton showed that employees without sleeping problems at baseline had a twofold risk of sleep difficulties one year later, after having experienced stress, such as a poor psychosocial work environment [6]. Ota and colleagues showed that low social support and an effort-reward imbalance among insomniacs were significantly associated with insomnia at followup. On the other hand, overcommitment to work and high job strain among health persons at baseline were associated with insomnia at
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/sd/2012/806913/