New York: Researchers have found that nurses are at an increased risk of sleep deprivation and sleep disorders such as chronic insomnia.
A recent study published in the journal Sleep, found that there symptoms of common sleep disorders and insufficient sleep is prevalent among nurses working at medical centres.
“We were surprised by the number of nurses potentially suffering from common sleep disorders, most notably chronic insomnia and shift work disorder,” said lead author Francis Christian from the University of Oklahoma in the US.
The research team conducted an online survey of 1,165 nurses, who were asked questions on topics such as their sleep schedule and medications they took to induce sleep etc.
It was found that on an average, nurses slept less than 6.6 hours per night while a healthy person should sleep for at least 7-8 hours per night.
About 31 per cent of nurses showed symptoms consistent with chronic insomnia, 27 per cent of nurses used medications to help them sleep, and 13 per cent reported using medications to stay awake, according to the research.
About 18.5 per cent of nurses also had a moderate-to-severe risk for obstructive sleep apnoea.
Symptoms indicative of shift work disorder were present in 31 per cent of the nurses.
“There should be scheduling modifications to help alleviate the burden of shift work disorder among nurses,” said Christian.
IANS