Remote Work Frequency and Insomnia: What’s the Link?

High-frequency remote work is negatively associated with short sleep duration (SSD) and insomnia risk, according to study results published in the Journal of Sleep Research.

While previous studies have focused on insomnia symptoms and remote work, limited research has been conducted on the relationship between the frequency of remote work and employees’ sleep health following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to assess the longitudinal association between insomnia risk and remote work frequency, researchers conducted a prospective cohort study from December 2021 through January 2022 to describe the health characteristics of teleworkers (remote workers) at 5 companies in Tokyo, Japan. The researchers conducted a follow-up survey 1 year later between November and December 2023.

Outcomes included being at risk for insomnia based on the Athens Insomnia Scale, self-reported SSD, and being at risk for insomnia with SSD. Mann-Whitney U-test, inverse probability weighting, and generalized estimating equations were employed for statistical analysis.

Overall, 824 participants were included in the study (aged 20s, 33.6%; men, 57.7%).

Prevalence rates increased during the study period for:

• being at risk for insomnia (40.0% to 45.4%),
• SSD (42.5% to 53.8%), and
• being at risk for insomnia with SSD (21.7% to 27.7%).

A U-shaped pattern was observed between frequent remote work and the prevalence of being at risk for insomnia; in the follow-up survey, the prevalence of being at risk for insomnia was highest among those who worked remotely less than 20% of the time and lowest among those who worked fully remote. However, these associations were not statistically significant.

At baseline and follow-up, the prevalence of SSD was highest in those who worked full-time onsite (66.4% and 67.4%, respectively), and lowest for those who worked fully remote (28.2% and 34.7%, respectively). Likewise, the prevalence of being at risk for insomnia with SSD was highest at baseline and follow-up for full-time onsite work (34.5% and 35.7%, respectively), and lowest for those who worked remotely 80% to 99% of the time (16.8% and 16.4%, respectively).

Compared with employees working full-time onsite, those who worked remotely 80% to 99% of the time (OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.35–0.82) or fully remotely (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.27–0.61) had significantly lower odds of developing SSD. Compared with their onsite counterparts, fully remote workers, in particular, experienced a 59% reduction in the likelihood of SSD.

When compared with those who did full-time onsite work, those who worked remotely 80% to 99% of the time (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.32-0.84; P =.008) and those who worked fully remote (OR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.30-0.73; P =.001) had a negative association with being at risk for insomnia with SSD.

When compared with full-time onsite work, 80% to 99% of remote work was negatively associated with being at risk for insomnia (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.43-0.95; P =.027).

Study limitations included self-reported data, lack of generalizability, low follow-up rate, and underestimation of SSD prevalence.

“This study shows that high-frequency remote work was negatively associated with SSD and being at risk of insomnia with SSD. These findings can serve as a reference material to prevent sleep problems among remote workers,” the researchers concluded.