Effects of lifestyle factors on job-related stress and stress responses in police officers in Japan

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between stress responses and lifestyle factors of police officers in Japan. This study used a cross-sectional design. Of indivudals who underwent legally required health screenings in a Prefectural Police, 9633 men and 1086 women completed the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. Then a multivariate analysis for various lifestyle factors was performed with high stress and six stress responses (low vitality, high irritability, high fatigue, high anxiety, substantial depressive feeling, and high somatic symptoms) as dependent variables. Of the potential covariates, short sleep duration consistently related to various stress and stress responses. The odds ratios of short sleep duration were consistently significant for high stress in men and women, for high irritability in men, for high fatigue in women, for high depressive feeling in men and women, and for high somatic symptoms in men and women. As for factors other than sleep duration, age, rank, marital status, overtime work, and rhythm of daily life were significantly associated with high stress and various stress responses. The results of this study consistently showed that short sleep duration increases the risk of high stress and stress responses. Overall, more women than men in the police force reported short sleep duration, which may be due to work–family conflicts. Maintaining adequate sleep duration quality would reinforce preventive measures to avoid aggravation of stress status.