People in their 50s lose significantly more sleep during a recession, research says
Tuesday 15 September 2009
The proportion of people reporting sleep loss through money worries during the last recession rose sharply, doubling among those aged 57-63, new research shows.
Alex Dregan from the University of Surrey looked at data from 30,000 people aged over 49 in England from 1984 and found that that their sleeplessness through worry over job insecurity and money rose in 1991.
Mr Dregan’s research data stop in 2006, but he believes similar reported loss of sleep may be occurring during the present recession.
In a paper presented to the British Sociological Association medical sociology conference in Manchester today (Friday 4 September 2009), Mr Dregan said his research looked at people reporting sleep loss in the weeks previous to being questioned. He found:
• The proportion of those aged 57-63 who had lost sleep from worry doubled during the recession, from 10 per cent in 1984 to 20 per cent in 1991. It fell back to around 13 per cent in 1998 and later when there was no recession.
• Among those aged 50-56, the proportion of those experiencing sleeplessness during the recession rose by over half, from 15 per cent in 1984 to 23 per cent in 1991. It fell back in later years.
• For those aged 64 and over, the rises in 1991 were less pronounced.
The research paper, ‘Age, cohort and period effects in the prevalence of sleep disturbances among older people’ says the most likely explanation was the economic downturn in the UK in the early 1990s.
This was supported by data analysis which found that money worries were the main cause of lack of sleep in 1991 but not in other years, where concerns over health and other issues were stronger.
This accounted for why those in their late 60s and 70s lost less sleep during the recession, as the financial problems caused by a fear of redundancy did not exist as they were beyond retirement. Those in their 50s were more affected because they were further from retirement and would struggle to find another job.
Mr Dregan used longitudinal data from the Health and Activity Lifestyle Survey and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to take snapshots of insomnia through worry in 1984, 1991, 1998, 2002 and 2006. The age bands he looked at were aged 50-56; 57-63; 64-70; 71-77; 78 and over.
Mr Dregan’s paper will be published in the academic journal Social Science and Medicine in 2010.
