Your work, our insomnia

When stress hits us, sleep is often one of the most immediately affected areas. Difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakenings, or even distressing nightmares, can all exacerbate stress further, forming a cycle and making it even harder to cope.

As if struggling with sleep due to your own stress wasn't hard enough, new research suggests that sometimes our stress-induced sleep disturbances can spread to those close to us as well. The paper in question, a study on workplace bullying by Alfredo Rodríguez-Muñoz and colleagues, finds that insomnia doesn't just impact those bringing stress home from work: it disrupts their partners' sleep, too.

In the first part of the study, the researchers recruited 147 participants from Spanish workplaces. After completing a demographic survey, employees filled out daily questionnaires for five consecutive days. Firstly, the survey assessed workplace bullying — whether participants felt unfairly criticised or gossiped about — and how often they had ruminated on these incidents. Participants also reported sleep quality, including whether they had difficulties falling or staying asleep, overall sleep satisfaction, and the extent to which sleep issues affected their daily lives.

The second part of the study followed 138 couples over eight months. Participants were all employed, in a stable cohabiting relationship for at least six months, and not working shifts. After providing demographic information and filling in a baseline questionnaire, both partners completed follow-up surveys every two months, answering the same sleep-related questions as in the daily study.

While workplace bullying did not have an immediate effect on sleep in the daily studies, in the longer-term study, bullying was linked to worse sleep issues. This might suggest that the impact of bullying builds up, rather than manifesting immediately, or that bullying can trigger issues like anxiety which then contribute to sleep disturbances over time.

Rumination played some role in sleep problems, causing issues for those who frequently engaged in it. However, the findings here were mixed: in some cases, workplace bullying impacted sleep even without accounting for rumination, indicating that overthinking is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to poor sleep.

Notably, the employees who had experienced workplace bullying weren't the only ones affected — their partners were, too. Though overall sleep satisfaction remained unchanged, couples significantly influenced each other's ability to fall and stay asleep, as well as how much these sleep disturbances affected their daily lives. As the authors put it, this suggests a 'contagious' element to bad sleep.

Beyond its impact on individuals, the study underscores how the effects of workplace stress can seep into personal relationships. These conclusions suggest that (beyond measures being taken to improve dynamics in the workplace) dyadic approaches to managing the effects of workplace bullying may be of use to both those who face it, and those around them.

Read the paper in full:
Rodríguez-Muñoz, A., Mirko Antino, Ruiz-Zorrilla, P., Sanz-Vergel, A. I., & León-Pérez, J. M. (2025). Your Job Makes us Lose Sleep: The Effect of Workplace Bullying on Own and Partner' Insomnia. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251318291

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