Workplace bullying affects not only the employee’s sleep but their partner’s too.
This is according to a study – “Your job makes us lose sleep: The effect of workplace bullying on own and partner’s insomnia” by Alfredo Rodriguez-Muñoz, Mirko Antino, Paula Ruiz-Zorrilla, Ana Isabel Sanz-Vergel, and Jose M. León-Pérez – that was published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
The researchers noted that exposure to bullying by superiors and/or colleagues has been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes, such as sleep problems. They, then, looked at the short-term consequences of workplace bullying on various indicators of sleep, including waking up too early (sleep severity), interference with daily life (sleep impact) and dissatisfaction with own sleep (sleep satisfaction).
The team conducted two studies. In the first, 147 employees were followed over five days, and in the second, 139 couples were followed for a period of two months. In both the participants, all from Spain, had to report on their exposure to workplace bullying, work-related anger rumination and different indicators of insomnia.
The first study showed bullying indirectly affected sleep severity through rumination, and in the second, also sleep satisfaction and sleep impact, indicating that rumination is a key factor in how bullying affects various aspects of sleep quality.
The researchers, particularly, found evidence of insomnia symptoms being “contagious” between employees and their partners, meaning that the sleep issues (both severity and impact) of one person can influence the other, highlighting how interconnected sleep health can be in relationships.
“It is very interesting that insomnia is contagious,” said Sanz-Vergel. “Partners appear to influence each other’s sleep severity and sleep impact, which is not surprising, since one individual’s awakening could cause the other to wake up as well.
“When individuals experience bullying at work, they may engage in rumination as a way to mentally process and attempt to cope with the negative events. However, this repeated thinking about distressing events can lead to the development of sleep problems such as difficulties in falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleep impact and satisfaction.
Rumination, the researchers stressed, can be seen as a maladaptive coping strategy to deal with workplace bullying, meaning that while this type of reflection may initially seem like a way to resolve issues or understand the situation, it can actually lead to more harm in the long run.
The researchers recommend that interventions around workplace bullying should be designed both at the organizational and individual levels. From an organizational viewpoint, reducing stressors and fostering a healthy organizational culture become crucial.
At the individual level, interventions should be focused on developing skills to help individuals more effectively deal with stressors.
Sanz-Vergel said: “Training on how to disconnect from work has proven efficient and has been shown to minimize the effects of bullying. In addition, couple-oriented prevention programs in the context of the workplace are needed – this could help provide coping strategies to both members of the couple, which would in turn reduce rumination levels and insomnia.”
