Time for Self-Care: Downtime Recovery as a Buffer of Work and Home/Family Time Pressures

Details

• Personal Author:
  Barnes-Farrell JL ; Dugan AG
• Description:
  Objective: Opportunities for people to recover from stress are insufficient, because demanding and excessive life activities leave little time for recovery. Downtime is a self-care behavior that can occur in any life domain (ie, work, home/family, leisure). Methods: Using survey data from a cross-section of 422 U.S. workers, we tested hypotheses regarding downtime as a buffer of the effects of time pressure and whether downtime's benefits were related to the domain in which it was taken, or influenced by perceived time control. Results: In situations of high time pressure, work and home/family downtime were beneficial when time control was high, while relaxing leisure was beneficial when time control was low. Conclusions: Downtime is available whenever people recognize their need for recovery and respond by entering a state of physical relaxation and psychological detachment from stressors. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Family Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Families Job Stress Mental Health Psychological Effects Work-life Balance Worker Health
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  59
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063974
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2017 Apr; 59(4):e46-e56
• Contact Point Address:
  Alicia G. Dugan, PhD, University of Connecticut Health Center, Department of Medicine, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 263 Farmington Ave, Farmington, CT 06030
• Email:
  adugan@uchc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  University of Connecticut Storrs
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0f2acf21c8c8d9106468bb9bfbe5bf9383b2b363acba197d57bb16ea00c2462b7381e9256a43e0f5e0d69bb8a659c9870b3bac6a61388e524831809ad08e2a23
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222505/cdc_222505_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 421.79 KB ]