Systematic review : the association of the overtime work and sleeping problem

Abstract

Objective: This study is to exam the association between overtime work and sleeping duration through systematic review.

Methods: Systematic review was conducted by online searching through electronic resources of papers from PubMed up to Jan 2016. The key words with the combination of “Sleep” AND “Long Work” or “Overtime Work” was applied for searching and identifying. The search filtered to limit the study written in English and full text in the database.

Results: 7 studies were selected in PUBMED, and including one experimental study, one prospective cohort study, two cross-sectional study, and the rest of the three studies were questionnaire in this systematic review. Although the selected 7 studies were using different methods to assess the working hours, they could clearly suggest that the working hours were negatively related to sleeping in terms of number hour. The longer the working hours, the shorter the sleeping hours would be in the work place.

Conclusion: The 7 studies had shown the association between the overtime work and the sleeping problem clearly indicated through systematic review. Employee with longer working hours per day would consume shorter sleeping duration. Several 1studies have already identified sleeping problem was directly related to the huge variety of health issues, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression. Good sleeping quality with appropriate quantity must be able to reduce the risk suffering from the stated health issues. In Hong Kong, as one of busiest cities and also ranked in the first long working hours cities in the world, should pay attention to this issue.