Dados do Trabalho

Título

The effect of maternity and work demand in women’s sleep pattern

Introdução

The amount of sleep per night has been decreasing in the population over the years. Professional, domestic and social demands are factors known to disturb sleep and the quality of life. Mothers are at higher risk to develop sleep disturbance due to all these factors associated to maternity tasks.

Objetivo

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of maternity and work in sleep pattern of women participants of the EPISONO 2007.

Métodos

The sample consisted of 574 women that were submitted to one-night polysomnography (PSG) to collect information about sleep parameters. The participants responded to the following questionnaires: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), The Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The group of participants were distributed according to questions of having or not having children and working or not working. The statistical analysis used was Generalized Linear Model, considering the effects of interactions among the groups and covariation by age. Results were presented by mean and standard error.

Resultados

The sleep parameters from polysomnography indicated that women with children had statistically lower sleep efficiency (80.9%±0.7) compared to women without children (84.6%±1.3). Working women presented statistically lower sleep latency (13.2min±0.8), N2 (54.5%±0.4) and wake after sleep onset (WASO) (49min±2.0) in relation to the non-working group, 24.8min±2.3, 54.9%±0.7, 77.2min±4.0, respectively. Working women also showed more REM sleep (19.1%±0.3) and higher sleep efficiency (84.7%±0.6) compared to non-working women (REM sleep=17.2%±0.5, SE=76%±1.1). The analysis of subjective sleep parameters demonstrated that women with children had statistically lower sleep quality (PSQI=6.8±0.2) and presented more insomnia (ISI=8.5±0.3), compared to women without children (PSQI=6.1±0.3, ISI=7.9±0.6). The anxiety was statistically higher in women with children (BAI=9.8±0.5) compared to those without children (8.8±0.5).

Conclusões

The results evidenced that having children affected women's sleep and increased anxiety and insomnia symptoms. Working improved the time to falling asleep and increased the amount of REM sleep in PSG of women, suggesting a possible rebound effect of sleep restriction resulted from long working hours.

Palavras -chave

Sleep; Maternity; Work; Women; Children.