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Sleep, Shift Work and Health: Global Perspectives

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Occupational Safety and Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2023) | Viewed by 3739

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, 20090 Pieve Emanuele, MI, Italy
2. Internal Medicine, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center- IRCCS, 20089 Rozzano, MI, Italy
Interests: cardiovascular autonomic nervous system; shift work; sleep disorders; syncope and orthostatic intolerance syndromes; occupational and environmental health; heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory activity variability
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Guest Editor
1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Western University, London, ON N6A 5C1, Canada
2. Departments of Family Medicine and Medicine, Western University, London, ON N6A 5C1, Canada
Interests: sleep epidemiology; chronic disease epidemiology and prevention; ageing research; multimorbidity; Global Health; Public Health; social and environmental determinants of health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy
2. Department of Women, Children and Public Health Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
Interests: personalized occupational health; management of hazardous workers; psychosocial factors; methods of prevention; workplace health promotion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Chronic lack of sleep or poor-quality sleep is a risk factor for cognitive and mood disorders, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndromes, mortality and reduced life expectancy. Undiagnosed sleep disturbances in workers can lead also to significant impairments in health and safety risks. Obstructive sleep apnea, sleep deficit, insomnia, and excessive daytime sleepiness are independently associated with road accidents and near-miss work accidents, as well as with absenteeism and decreases in productivity. Shift work schedules and irregular working times, which are both characteristics of our 24-hour society, mean there is an increased number of people experiencing poor sleep quality and sleep disorders.

The use of benzodiazepine in workers experiencing poor quality of sleep is an increasing phenomenon, thus creating additional safety risks. Finally, there is increasing interest in the role of sex and gender in sleep disturbances and the associated health consequences, particularly in working-age individuals. Indeed, females in the fertile period experiencing sleep disturbances tend to more frequently develop mood disturbances including chronic depression.

Sleep deprivation and low quality of sleep seem to produce a hyperadrenergic state, associated with systemic inflammation potentially involved in the physiopathology of most of the diseases observed among poor sleepers. Little is known about the role of autonomic modulation (i.e., the cardio sympatho-vagal balance) in affecting sleep quality and duration.

The present Special Issue will address the issue with emphasis on the role of occupational environments. Original observational studies, randomized controlled trials and protocols, and systematic reviews and case reports are welcome. Other manuscript types may include methodological papers, position papers, brief reports, and commentaries. Basic, clinical, and population studies from different disciplines including work physiology and occupational health are accepted. We will strive to provide a global perspective by encouraging submissions from both high-income countries and low-resource settings.

Dr. Franca Barbic
Prof. Dr. Saverio Stranges
Dr. Nicola Magnavita
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sleep disorders
  • sleep quality
  • shift work
  • irregular working time
  • autonomic nervous system
  • global health
  • global perspective
  • occupational health
  • mood disturbances
  • benzodiazepine abuse for insomnia

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 978 KiB  
Article
Home-Based Dynamics of Sleepiness-Related Conditions Starting at Biological Evening and Later (Beyond Working)
by Valeriia Demareva, Irina Zayceva, Valeriia Viakhireva, Marina Zhukova, Ekaterina Selezneva and Ekaterina Tikhomirova
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(17), 6641; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20176641 - 24 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1040
Abstract
Shift work requires round-the-clock readiness to perform professional duties, and the workers’ performance highly depends on their sleepiness level, which can be underestimated during a shift. Various factors, including the time of day, can influence sleepiness in shift workers. The objective of this [...] Read more.
Shift work requires round-the-clock readiness to perform professional duties, and the workers’ performance highly depends on their sleepiness level, which can be underestimated during a shift. Various factors, including the time of day, can influence sleepiness in shift workers. The objective of this study was to explore the dynamics of sleepiness-related conditions assessed through heart rate variability analysis, starting from the biological evening and continuing in vivo (at home), without the need for artificial alertness support. The participants solely performed regular evening household duties. A total of 32 recordings were collected from the Subjective Sleepiness Dynamics Dataset for analysis. At 8:00 p.m. and every 30 min thereafter, the participants completed cyclic sleepiness scales (the KSS and the SSS) until the time they went to bed, while their heart rate was recorded. The results of the study indicated that during the biological evening, high sleepiness is associated with a ‘stressed’ condition characterized by higher sympathetic activation. Later on, it is associated with a ‘drowsy’ condition characterized by higher parasympathetic activation and a decline in heart rate variability. Our findings provide evidence that the type of condition experienced during high sleepiness depends on the biological time. This should be taken into account when managing work regimes in shift work and developing alertness detectors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sleep, Shift Work and Health: Global Perspectives)
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11 pages, 629 KiB  
Article
Does Shiftwork Impact Cognitive Performance? Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)
by Rea Alonzo, Kelly K. Anderson, Rebecca Rodrigues, Neil Klar, Paolo Chiodini, Manuel Montero-Odasso and Saverio Stranges
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10124; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610124 - 16 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2074
Abstract
Few large nationwide studies have investigated the relationship between shiftwork and cognitive performance, and little is known about whether and how psychological distress may impact this relationship. This study aimed to examine: (1) the cross-sectional relationship between shiftwork (yes/no) and some aspects of [...] Read more.
Few large nationwide studies have investigated the relationship between shiftwork and cognitive performance, and little is known about whether and how psychological distress may impact this relationship. This study aimed to examine: (1) the cross-sectional relationship between shiftwork (yes/no) and some aspects of cognitive performance (declarative memory and executive functioning) and (2) the potential moderating effect of psychological distress among 20,610 community-dwelling adults from the comprehensive cohort of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Differences by sex and retirement status were also explored. Shiftwork was significantly associated with poorer performance for executive functioning (interference condition: ß = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.31 to 0.63; MAT: ß = −0.85, 95% CI: −1.21 to −0.50) but not for declarative memory. Completely and not/partly retired males showed poorer cognitive performance on executive functioning. However, no evidence of a moderating effect by psychological distress was found. Our findings confirm the association between shiftwork and cognitive performance and highlight important health correlates of shiftwork. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sleep, Shift Work and Health: Global Perspectives)
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