Cites famly death/illness, divorce, finances, & violence

 

Helsinki, Finland. People who suffer from anxiety from stressful life situations may be more likely to experience sleep disturbances for at least the first six months after the event, according to a study published in the journal SLEEP.

 

Jussi Vahtera, MD, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, focused on 16,627 men and women with undisturbed sleep and 2,572 with disturbed sleep, all of whom participated in a five-year longitudinal observational cohort study.

 

Each person’s liability to anxiety (a general feeling of stressfulness with symptoms of hyperactivity) was measured and assessed at the onset. The occurrence of post-onset life events (i.e., death or illness in the family, divorce, financial difficulty and violence) and sleep disturbances was measured at follow-up five years later.

 

According to the results, both liability to anxiety and exposure to negative life events were strongly associated with sleep disturbances.

“This five-year follow-up showed that exposure to severe stressful events can trigger sleep disturbances in people with undisturbed sleep before the event. Those liable to anxiety before the event seemed to be at a higher risk of post-event sleep disturbances compared with those not liable to anxiety. The strength of this study is a study design that allowed the timing of pre-event predisposing traits and the occurrence of specific stressful events precipitating the onset of sleep disturbances. Control for a large number of potential confounding factors suggest that the observed associations were not explained by socioeconomic position, obesity, high alcohol intake or chronic medical conditions at study entry,” said Dr. Vahtera.

 

Experts recommend that adults get seven to eight hours of sleep each night for good health and optimum performance. Adolescents should sleep about nine hours a night, school-aged children between 10-11 hours a night and children in pre-school between 11-13 hours a night.

 

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More information on the effect of stress on one’s ability to sleep can be found on SleepEducation.com, an AASM Web that provides information about various sleep disorders, the forms of treatment available, recent news on the topic of sleep, sleep studies that have been conducted and a listing of sleep facilities. Those who think they might have a sleep disorder are urged to discuss their problem with their primary care physician or a sleep specialist.

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Liability to Anxiety and Severe Life Events as Predictors of New-onset Sleep Disturbances. Jussi Vahtera, Mika Kivimäki, Christer Hublin, Katariina Korkeila, Sakari Suominen, Tiina Paunio, Markku Koskenvuo. SLEEP Forthcoming.

 

Sleep disturbances as a predictor of long-term increase in sickness absence among employees after family death or illness. Vahtera J; Pentti J; Helenius H et al. SLEEP 2006;29(5):673-682.

 

Study Objectives. This study examined whether sleep disturbances after family death or illness are associated with an increase in health problems and delayed recovery.

 

Design. Longitudinal observational cohort study.

 

Setting. Ten cities in Finland.

 

Participants. A population of 6032 male and 20,933 female city employees.

 

Interventions. N/A.

 

Measurements and Results. Self-reports of a family death or illness, the timing of the event, and postevent sleep duration and quality, measured by the Jenkins Scale, were linked with monthly sickness absence records from 36 months prior to the event to 30 months after the event. A repeated-measures Poisson regression analysis with the generalized estimating equation method showed no differences in the preevent absence rates between the employees with and without disturbed sleep. For employees with disturbed sleep, the rate of absence in the month the event occurred was 2.08-fold higher (95% confi dence interval: 1.71, 2.53) compared with the employee’s baseline level of sickness absence, and it was still 1.67-fold higher (95% confi dence interval: 1.42, 1.98) 19 to 30 months after the event. The corresponding rate ratios were lower for the employees with undisturbed sleep after the event (1.49 and 1.16, respectively). Delayed recovery with disturbed sleep was observed after family illness but not after family death.

 

Conclusion. These findings suggest that a long-term increase in sickness absence is particularly likely if a family illness is associated with sleep disturbances. Identifying people with sleep disturbances may be important in preventing health problems in the aftermath of a family death or illness.

 

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