1. The Relationship Between Responsibility and Stress
Work can be incredibly stressful, even for those on the low end of the responsibility scale. The mailroom can sometimes be as stressful as the boardroom. When there's a lot to get done, or when there's a potential crisis to sort out, it can take a tremendous emotional and physical toll. One of the typical consequences is the inability to quiet one's mind. After a very stressful day, it's not uncommon to keep replaying events in your head. This type of stress can easily lead to insomnia, which is an inability to fall asleep despite fatigue.
2. Work Habits, Stress and Sleep
Your work habits can play a key role in how stressed you are and how well you sleep. People who work diligently throughout the day and are able to separate work from their personal lives are far less apt to develop sleep disorders than someone who procrastinates or under-performs. Procrastination alone can contribute to sleep disorders because the less you get done, the more you carry over from day to day, giving your mind something to focus on when what you really need is rest. If you are struggling with procrastination or having trouble completing your work in the expected amount of time, consider taking courses in time management in order to help reduce the amount of stress you face throughout the day.
3. Shift-Work Disorders
Stress is not the only cause of work-related sleep disorders. Sometimes the very hours you work are causing you to suffer from sleep disorders. Understand that a work schedule that goes against your natural, or circadian, sleep rhythm can potentially cause a number of sleep disorders. Advanced or delayed sleep-phase disorders are circadian-rhythm disorders characterized by sufferers becoming fatigued at abnormal times. For example, a normal circadian rhythm typically begins to display fatigue at about 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., but someone with delayed sleep-phase disorder will not grow tired until midnight or later. This is often a result of working shifts that intersect typical circadian sleep cycles, such as a shift that starts at 4 p.m. and ends at midnight. The adjustment in sleep rhythms can become stressful if it leads to deprivation, which can make work difficult.
