Researchers show one person’s stress can quickly affect those close to them.
If a person catches a cold, it’s not overly surprising when their significant other also becomes infected.
Heaven knows we’ve learned much about communicable diseases in the last few years as the world struggled through the Covid pandemic.
But how about stress? Can it jump from one person to another like a disease?
It might seem obvious, however, researchers have now determined just how contagious stress can be between partners.
Teams from the University of East Anglia in the UK, and the University in Spain, wanted to determine how a person’s work stress can impact their partner.
Bullying at work provided the perfect source of stress.
The researchers first looked at the impact of exposure to bullying by superiors and/or colleagues affected workers’ health, including their sleep.
It was found, not surprisingly, that the people being bullied didn’t sleep as long or as well, and ruminated on the behaviours they were experiencing.
Sleep problems are often immediate or short-term responses to stressful situations.
The participants were found to be not only less well-rested than those not bullied at work, but they were also experiencing strong feelings of anger.
And it wasn’t long before these conditions affected their relationships.
Partners of the bullied also reported sleep difficulties.
Evidence of insomnia symptoms being “contagious” between employees and their partners was found.
Professor Ana Sanz-Vergel says the results show the effects being felt by a person go beyond the individual and the work setting.
“When individuals experience bullying at work, they may engage in rumination as a way to mentally process and attempt to cope with the negative events.
“However, this repeated thinking about distressing events can lead to the development of sleep problems by both partners.
“This can lead to more harm in the long run.”
139 couples were involved in the study with recommendations from the authors that workplaces help reduce stressors and make interventions around bullying.
While at the individual level, interventions should be focused on developing skills to help individuals more effectively deal with stressors.
So, some food for thought there in that study, and proof that what is affecting one person in the couple will either quickly, or eventually affect the other.
That is precisely what happens in all symbiotic relationships between two organisms.
