Is boredom at work bad for your health?

Piia Seppälä, Lotta Harju, Jussi Virkkala and Jari Hakanen
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Piia Seppälä: FIOH - Finnish Institute of Occupational Health of Helsinki
Lotta Harju: EM - EMLyon Business School
Jussi Virkkala: Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki, HUS - Helsinki University Hospital [Finland]
Jari Hakanen: FIOH - Finnish Institute of Occupational Health of Helsinki

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Abstract: Job boredom refers to an unpleasant state of passiveness at work that has been found to negatively relate to self-reported health. To date, however, the relation between job boredom and physiological indicators of health has not been examined. The present study investigates whether job boredom relates to dysfunction in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity as indicated by reduced heart rate variability (HRV) during night sleep. The sample of this study consisted of Finnish public sector workers (n = 125). Job boredom was assessed with an electronic questionnaire and HRV with an ambulatory monitoring period of two nights of sleep. The results supported the hypothesis by showing a negative relation between job boredom and HRV, after controlling for demographic and lifestyle factors. The findings extend previous knowledge on the detrimental consequences of job boredom by showing that it is related to dysfunction in ANS activity. Consequently, it is important to acknowledge boredom at work as a threat to occupational health and well-being and pay more attention to how it can be prevented at workplaces.

Keywords: Boredom at work; Autonomic nervous system activity; Heart rate variability; Employee health; Sleep (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur
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Published in Stress and Health, 2024, 10 p. ⟨10.1002/smi.3326⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04348218

DOI: 10.1002/smi.3326

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