Evidence that impaired sleep recovery may complicate burnout improvement independently of depressive mood

Objective: This article examines recovery through sleep in relation to sleep quality, exhaustion, and depression in clinical burnout. We focus on actual recovery per night, given its relevance to burnout improvement. Methods: Sixty clinically burned-out participants and 40 healthy controls recorded symptoms with an electronic diary for 2 weeks at random times per day. Recovery through sleep was defined as the difference in fatigue between late evening and the next morning. Results: In clinical burnout, sleep quality and recovery are impaired, and depression is elevated. Poor recovery through sleep is associated with poor same-night sleep quality, clarifying the mechanisms underlying poor recovery. Individual differences in recovery though sleep were related to differences in refreshed awakening, but not to other sleep problems. Impaired recovery was also related to severity of exhaustion, but not to severity of depressive mood, indicating that, in burnout, nonprofit from sleep is a symptom of energy depletion, not a sign of depression. Conclusion: Impaired recovery through sleep may hamper recovery from burnout independently of the influence of depression.