SI in Athletes, Business Travelers, Shift Workers, Students

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Situational Insomnia occurs in special circumstances in people who do not necessarily suffer from General Insomnia. Such circumstances may include the night before an exam, major competitions, critical presentation or simply sleeping in unfamiliar environments (on business trips or away sport events).  Other examples are the disturbed sleep patterns of first responders, shift workers and military.

Pharmacotherapy is often undesirable in this situation due to the potential adverse effects on next day performance. The athlete, businessperson or student does not want to risk a reduction in reaction time, cognition, memory or mood which may have significant, negative influence on an outcome of a critical, next day event.  In a survey of 500 business travelers, 37% reported insomnia in hotel rooms.  

In the tech sector, the average time an employee stays with the same employer is less than 2 years. The attrition rate being around 13% per year. The cost of replacing an employee is calculated at around 33% of their salary. Not accounting for the loss of productivity of the workgroup while the new employee gets comfortable with workgroup culture and work patterns.

We found that 29% of Situational Insomnia sufferers have a significantly decreased job satisfaction (again higher in women) and 39% state that it decreases their willingness to travel. This pattern can become the stimulus for a valuable employee leaving a job requiring significant travel. Effective management of Situational Insomnia can improve performance, mood, health and wellbeing, job satisfaction and reduce fatigue and irritability in athletes, business travelers, students, shift workers, pilots and first responders.