Mental Health News
A research team at Washington State University explored the link between women’s work ambitions and a good night’s sleep. The study is published in the journal Sex Roles.
The Study
The researchers examined data from a two-week-long survey study of 135 professional workers, male and female. The participants answered questions about their sleep patterns, quality of mood, as well as intentions to pursue more responsibility, status, and influence at work.
The Findings: Poor Sleep Can Affect Your Career
The results revealed that poor sleep impacts women’s workplace ambitions more than it impacts men. While both the male and female participants reported, in equal measures, good and bad sleep quality over the course of the study—the impact of disrupted sleep seemed heavier on women than men.
It was found that poor sleep quality did not deter men from their work aspirations, but, for women, it did lower intentions to pursue more status at work on days following a night of poor sleep.
The researchers inferred that gender differences in emotion regulation and societal expectations play important roles in the negative relationship between sleep and women’s work ambitions. That’s why quality sleep can boost women’s work ambitions and performance.
One of the lead researchers, Leah Sheppard, elaborated: “It’s important to be able to connect aspirations to something happening outside the work environment that is controllable. There are lots of things that anyone can do to have a better night’s sleep and regulate mood in general.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Sheppard, L.D., Loi, T.I. & Kmec, J.A. Too Tired to Lean In? Sleep Quality Impacts Women’s Daily Intentions to Pursue Workplace Status. Sex Roles 87, 379–389 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-022-01321-1
