Police Officers' Sleep Crisis: Why Does High Stress Lead to Insomnia? Psychologists Reveal the Three Major Culprits of Burnout

Unveiling the Black Box of Occupational Burnout

A recent study published in an authoritative journal has uncovered the "black box" of police officers' occupational burnout during the pandemic - why do police officers, clearly exhausted, still can't sleep, can't smile, and even want to resign?

It turns out that stress is just the trigger, while the real factors "fanning the flames" behind the scenes are three mediating variables: social support, sleep quality, and psychological resilience.

Wuhan Experiment Data

The research team surveyed 2,125 frontline police officers in Wuhan and found that the average burnout score was 1.90. Stress, through these three mediating variables, ultimately pushed police officers to the brink of collapse.

Analysis of Three Major Mediating Variables

**Stress as the "root of all evil"**: During the pandemic, police officers not only had to catch criminals but also transport patients, seal communities, and debunk rumors. Long working hours and high infection risks caused stress levels to skyrocket. The study found that for every 1-point increase in stress, burnout increased by 0.17 points.

**Social support as the "fire extinguisher" for burnout**: Research shows that both family support and friend support can buffer stress, but unfortunately, people under high stress tend to avoid relatives and friends, creating a vicious cycle.

**Sleep quality as the "best assistant" for burnout**: Stress → Insomnia → Emotional breakdown → Burnout, this pathway's mediating effect reached as high as 55.39%! The study even found that 40.38% of police officers believed work directly affected their sleep.

Stress Transmission Mechanism

Stress also works "through covert means" - it first reduces social support, ruins sleep quality, weakens psychological resilience, and then leads to increased burnout levels.

For example, people under high stress are prone to insomnia, and insomnia makes people emotionally irritable and indifferent to the public, ultimately causing burnout indices to soar.

Practical Anti-Burnout Toolkit

**Sleep is not a luxury, it's "emotional body armor"**: Research shows that people with poor sleep quality have a 25% increased risk of emotional exhaustion! Try the "3-2-1 sleep method": no eating 3 hours before bed, no phone scrolling 2 hours before bed, and adjust lighting to warm yellow 1 hour before bed.

**Social circles should be about "leaning on" not "competing with"**: Data shows that for every 1-point increase in friend support, burnout decreases by 0.11 points. But the key to "effective socializing" is: find people you can be silly with!

**Psychological resilience should be "cultivated" not "forced"**: Resilience isn't about toughing it out, but about flexibility. Record 3 "small but useful" things every day, persist for a month, and your brain will automatically switch to "problem-solving mode."

**Stress should be "unpacked" not "accumulated"**: Write stressful events on slips of paper and throw them into a "worry can," opening it once a week. You'll find that 80% of anxieties either expire automatically or can be told as jokes.

In summary, grassroots police officers fighting occupational burnout can't rely solely on "toughing it out" - they need to learn to "leverage support." As relatives and friends of police officers, when you see their tired expressions, please hand them a milk tea and say "you've worked hard" - this might prevent burnout better than giving them a bonus.