Dataset Information

Chronotype and self-reported sleep, alertness, and mental health in U.S. sailors.

ABSTRACT: Service members are at risk for sleep and psychological conditions affecting their readiness. Chronotype ("morningness" or "eveningness") is strongly associated with sleep, health and performance. The objective of this study was to examine associations between validated measures of chronotype and sleep quality, daytime functioning, alertness, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in US service members (n = 298). Although predominantly young males (who skew toward eveningness in civilian populations), these Sailors skewed toward morningness (35.6% morning, 51.3% intermediate). Eveningness was associated with symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (P < 0.01), less time in bed (P < 0.05), more sleep disruption (P < 0.01), and poorer daytime functioning and alertness (P < 0.05). Evening types were less likely to consider sleep important for performance (P < 0.05). To maximize service member readiness, schedules should be aligned with endogenous rhythms, whenever possible, and evening chronotypes may benefit from targeted interventions. Chronotype should be examined alongside health and readiness in service members.

SUBMITTER: Harrison EM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8353852 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Chronotype and self-reported sleep, alertness, and mental health in U.S. sailors.

Harrison Elizabeth M EM Easterling Alexandra P AP Schmied Emily A EA Hurtado Suzanne L SL Glickman Gena L GL

Military Medical Research 20210810 1

Service members are at risk for sleep and psychological conditions affecting their readiness. Chronotype ("morningness" or "eveningness") is strongly associated with sleep, health and performance. The objective of this study was to examine associations between validated measures of chronotype and sleep quality, daytime functioning, alertness, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in US service members (n = 298). Although predominantly young males (who ske ...[more]

PMID: 34376248

Similar Datasets

Project description:ImportanceThe COVID-19 pandemic represents a unique stressor in Americans' daily lives and access to health services. However, it remains unclear how the pandemic impacted perceived health status and engagement in health-related behaviors.ObjectiveTo assess changes in self-reported health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to explore trends in health-related behaviors that may underlie the observed health changes.DesignInterrupted time series stratified by age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, household income, and employment status.SettingUnited States.ParticipantsAll adult respondents to the 2016-2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N = 2,146,384).ExposureSurvey completion following the U.S. public health emergency declaration (March-December 2020). January 2019 to February 2020 served as our reference period.Main outcomes and measuresSelf-reported health outcomes included the number of days per month that respondents spent in poor mental health, physical health, or when poor health prevented their usual activities of daily living. Self-reported health behaviors included the number of hours slept per day, number of days in the past month where alcohol was consumed, participation in any exercise, and current smoking status.ResultsThe national rate of days spent in poor physical health decreased overall (-1.00 days, 95% CI: -1.10 to -0.90) and for all analyzed subgroups. The rate of poor mental health days or days when poor health prevented usual activities did not change overall but exhibited substantial heterogeneity by subgroup. We also observed overall increases in mean sleep hours per day (+0.09, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.13), the percentage of adults who report any exercise activity (+3.28%, 95% CI 2.48 to 4.09), increased alcohol consumption days (0.27, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.37), and decreased smoking prevalence (-1.11%, 95% CI -1.39 to -0.83).Conclusions and relevanceThe COVID-19 pandemic had deleterious but heterogeneous effects on mental health, days when poor health prevented usual activities, and alcohol consumption. In contrast, the pandemic's onset was associated with improvements in physical health, mean hours of sleep per day, exercise participation, and smoking status. These findings highlight the need for targeted outreach and interventions to improve mental health in individuals who may be disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Project description:Few studies have examined the broad health effects of occupational exposures in flight attendants apart from disease-specific morbidity and mortality studies. We describe the health status of flight attendants and compare it to the U.S. population. In addition, we explore whether the prevalence of major health conditions in flight attendants is associated with length of exposure to the aircraft environment using job tenure as a proxy.We surveyed flight attendants from two domestic U.S. airlines in 2007 and compared the prevalence of their health conditions to contemporaneous cohorts in the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES), 2005-2006 and 2007-2008. We weighted the prevalence of flight attendant conditions to match the age distribution in the NHANES and compared the two populations stratified by gender using the Standardized Prevalence Ratio (SPR). For leading health conditions in flight attendants, we analyzed the association between job tenure and health outcomes in logistic regression models.Compared to the NHANES population (n =5,713), flight attendants (n?=?4,011) had about a 3-fold increase in the age-adjusted prevalence of chronic bronchitis despite considerably lower levels of smoking. In addition, the prevalence of cardiac disease in female flight attendants was 3.5 times greater than the general population while their prevalence of hypertension and being overweight was significantly lower. Flight attendants reported 2 to 5.7 times more sleep disorders, depression, and fatigue, than the general population. Female flight attendants reported 34% more reproductive cancers. Health conditions that increased with longer job tenure as a flight attendant were chronic bronchitis, heart disease in females, skin cancer, hearing loss, depression and anxiety, even after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), education, and smoking.This study found higher rates of specific diseases in flight attendants than the general population. Longer tenure appears to explain some of the higher disease prevalence. Conclusions are limited by the cross-sectional design and recall bias. Further study is needed to determine the source of risk and to elucidate specific exposure-disease relationships over time.

Dataset Information

Chronotype and self-reported sleep, alertness, and mental health in U.S. sailors.

Publications

Chronotype and self-reported sleep, alertness, and mental health in U.S. sailors.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets