OBJECTIVE:To estimate the prevalence of minor psychiatric disorders and to identify associated stressors among truck drivers. METHODS:A cross-sectional study was conducted with 460 truck drivers from a cargo transportation company of the Southern and Southeastern regions of Brazil, in 2007. Workers completed a questionnaire about sociodemographic, lifestyle and working conditions data. Working conditions were the independent variables, including occupational stressors, job satisfaction and job demand-control. The outcome evaluated was the occurrence of minor psychiatric disorders. Multiple and univariate logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS:The prevalence of minor psychiatric disorders was 6.1%. The most frequently reported stressors were traffi c congestion, tracking control and extended working hours. High job demand, low social support and extended daily working hours, as reported by drivers, were associated with minor psychiatric disorders. CONCLUSIONS:Work involving extended working hours was associated with the occurrence of minor psychiatric disorders, both in the analysis of general working conditions and as a factor considered to be a stressor by drivers. Thus, regulation of working hours with focus on the limitation of the daily working hours is necessary to reduce the chance of developing minor psychiatric disorders in drivers.

A demanda da sociedade moderna intensificou o trabalho ininterrupto em diversas profissões. Além disso, o modo de organização da sociedade, com atividades predominantemente mecanizadas, tem contribuído para a prevalência de hábitos de vida não saudáveis, como a inatividade física. Este estudo objetiva verificar se fatores ocupacionais, sociodemográficos, antropométricos e alimentares estão associados à prática de atividade física insu ficiente e se há diferenças nessa associação entre motoristas de caminhão que trabalham de dia ou à noite. Participaram da pesquisa 470 motoristas de caminhão, que responderam a questionários de dados sociodemográficos, atividade física e frequên cia alimentar. Foi realizada uma regressão logís tica univariada para verificar a associação entre atividade física insuficiente e as demais variáveis. Além disso, a regressão logística múltipla foi tes tada para obter modelos que mostrem a associação de conjuntos de variáveis relacionados à atividade física insuficiente. Os resultados indicaram que a prática de atividade física está associada ao maior nível de escolaridade (OR = 1,84; IC = 1,22 2,76) e menor consumo de bebidas alcoólicas (OR = 1,59; IC = 1,04 2,45). Maior ingestão de cereais integrais (OR = 1,63; IC = 1,08 2,46) foi associada à prática regular de atividade física. Entre os trabalhadores noturnos, foi encontrada associação entre a prática regular de atividade física, maior consumo de cereais integrais (OR = 2,02; IC =1,13 3,60) e menor consumo de carboi dratos simples (OR = 1,91; IC = 1,08 3,37). Palavras-chave: Atividade física; Motoristas; Tur nos; Alimentação. The modern society's demand has intensified unin terrupted work among several professional catego ries. Besides that, the society's organization, with activities that are predominantly mechanized, has contributed to unhealthy life habits, such as lack of physical activity. This study aims to verify the association of occupational, social demographic, anthropometric and food intake data with insuffi cient practice of physical activities and if there are any differences in this association between day and night truck drivers. The 470 truck drivers who parti cipated in this study answered social demographic, physical activity and food frequency questionnaires. Univariate logistic regression analysis was used to verify the association between insufficient physical activity and the other variables. Additionally, multi ple logistic regression was tested to obtain models that show the association between sets of variables related to insufficient physical activity. The results indicated that practice of physical activities is as sociated with high educational level (OR=1.84; CI = 1.22 2.76) and low alcohol consumption (OR = 1.59; CI = 1.04 2.45). High intake of whole grains (OR = 1.63; CI = 1.08 2.46) was associated with regular practice of physical activity. Among the night workers, we found association between regular practice of phy sical activity, high consumption of whole grains (OR = 2.02; CI = 1.13 3.60) and low co...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an intervention involving night meal composition on sleepiness and sleep duration in night security guards. A total of 54 male night security guards with a mean age of 30.8 years (SD = 5.5 years) filled out a 24-h dietary recall and were submitted to anthropometric measurement. Twenty-four workers were assigned to the intervention. The intervention was carried out over three consecutive weeks under three conditions. On the first week, no change in workers' food composition was introduced. On the second week, the amount of carbohydrates was increased by 20-30% compared with the first week's intake, whereas during the third week protein intake was increased by 30-40% compared with baseline levels (first week). Throughout the study period, workers wore an actigraph device to estimate sleeping and waking times. A two-factor mixed model analysis with sleep duration as the outcome showed an interaction effect between body mass index (BMI) and condition (F2,56 = 3.9; p = 0.03). Sleep duration was higher in obese workers compared with nonobese workers during the Carbohydrate condition (357 and 267 min, respectively). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed an increase in sleepiness under all conditions at 3:00 h (F1,276 = 165.73; p < 0.01) postprandially. A significant difference in sleepiness was also found between the obese and nonobese groups (F1,276 = 14.8; p < 0.01). The effect of the night meal content on sleep duration seems to be mediated by BMI. A carbohydrate-rich meal increased the duration of sleep in obese workers, and may therefore also influence sleepiness.

Urbanization has contributed to extended wakefulness, which may in turn be associated with eating over a longer period. Here, we present a field study conducted in four groups with different work hours and places of living in order to investigate eating behavior (duration, content, and timing). Anthropometric measures were taken from the participants (rural (n = 22); town (n = 19); city-day workers (n = 11); city-night workers (n = 14)). In addition, a sociodemographic questionnaire was self-answered and 24-h food recalls were applied for three days. The 24-h food recalls revealed that fat intake varied according to the groups, with the highest consumption by the city-day workers. By contrast, city-day workers had the lowest intake of carbohydrate, whereas the rural group had the highest. In general, all groups had some degree of inadequacy in food consumption. Eating duration was negatively correlated with total energy intake, fat, and protein consumption in the rural and town groups. There was a positive correlation between body mass index and eating duration in both city groups. The rural group had the earliest start time of eating, and this was associated with a lower body mass index. This study suggested that food content and timing, as well as eating duration, differed according to place of living, which in turn may be linked to lifestyle.