Work-to-family conflict rather than family-to-work conflict is more strongly associated with sleep disorders in Upper Egypt

An important factor for which work and family compete is time. Due to lack of evidence, I investigated the associations between work-family conflict (assessed by the National Study of Midlife Development in the US) and sleep disorders (assessed by the Jenkins Sleep Questionnaire) in a cross-sectional study included 1,021 Egyptians aged 18–59 yr. Both work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) were associated with reduced sleep quantity. Moreover, high WFC was associated with sleep disorders; the multivariable ORs (95% CIs) were 2.32 (1.63–3.30) in high versus low WFC, 1.09 (0.79–1.49) in high versus low FWC and 2.41 (1.52–3.83) in high both WFC and FWC vs. low both WFC and FWC. Waking up too early with inability to fall asleep again and waking up tired after the usual amount of sleep were the most common sleep disturbances with high WFC; while insignificant increased risks for waking up several times per night and waking up tired after the usual amount of sleep were observed with high FWC. The study findings suggest the need for occupational and social health promotion programs to help men and women in labor force reach a balanced interaction between work and family life in order to reduce sleep complaints.