Original studyFrontiers in Psychology, 2026Read the paper →
Many people who look after a parent or partner with dementia also hold down a job, which can leave almost no time to rest. A new study from Japan finds that working family carers with the least time to themselves were the most likely to report distress, while hours spent caring were not, once other factors were taken into account.
Researchers at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in Kitakyushu surveyed 210 working family carers of patients seen at the university hospital’s outpatient dementia clinic. The study is published in Frontiers in Psychology. Carers were recruited between October 2021 and December 2025.
Most of the carers were women (142 of 210), and their average age was about 54. Four in 10 lived with the person they cared for. The relatives were about 80 on average; just over a third had Alzheimer’s disease, a similar share had mild cognitive impairment, and the rest had other dementia-related conditions.
Restorative free time was measured with a single question about how much time each day carers could use as they wished for their own mental or physical well-being. Psychological distress was assessed with a six-item questionnaire about feelings such as nervousness, hopelessness, and worthlessness over the past month. Carers also reported their average daily hours of work, care, and sleep.
Of the 17 who had less than an hour a day, 12 (70.6%) scored in the distressed range, compared with 36.2% of those who had three hours or more. After accounting for factors such as age, sex, job type, and the relative’s diagnosis and care needs, this group was about twice as likely to report distress, while carers with one to under three hours did not differ from those with three hours or more.
Sleep mattered too: carers who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to report distress, even in the fully adjusted analysis. By contrast, hours spent at work or on caring showed no link after adjustment.
Carers with the least free time tended to look after relatives with greater needs. Those caring for someone with a Japanese long-term care insurance care level of 1 to 5, or for someone less able to manage everyday tasks such as washing and dressing, were more likely to have under an hour to themselves, though these were simple comparisons without adjustment.
The study has clear limits. It was a one-off survey, so it cannot show whether a lack of free time leads to distress, or whether distressed carers simply feel they have less time. Free time was measured with one untested question, the free time groups were not based on clinical cut-offs, only 17 people were in the lowest group, and all carers came from a single specialist clinic in Japan.
Earlier research has found that family carers tend to report more distress than people without caring duties, and some studies suggest that the amount of care given does not on its own explain who struggles most. The authors suggest that respite care, flexible working, and help with balancing a job and care deserve testing in future trials, to see whether they give carers more time to recover.
Under an hour of free time a day is linked to distress in working carers, a study finds.
