Actual conditions of work, fatigue and sleep in non-employed, home-based female information technology workers with preschool children.

We conducted a study on time budget and fatigue feelings over a two-month period of 12 non-employed, home-based female workers using computers (mean age 35.2 yr). All of them had at least one preschool child. The actual amount of work done by these women and the related effects on the fatigue feelings and sleep were investigated. The results showed that the work done was characterized by involving many night hours, irrespective of the day of the week. The degree of subjective fatigue was not dependent on the number of hours worked, but affected by the time at which the work of the day was completed. This tendency was notable after one o'clock in the morning when the work was completed. Those who followed such a work pattern took daytime naps, although a quality of the subsequent nighttime sleep taken might be poor. They took a nap around 14:00 but not around 19:00. The sleep strategies were thus shown to be affected by home-based work. A need is suggested to support these workers in adjusting work time distribution and taking sleep patterns adapted to individual conditions.