Association between chronotype, food intake and physical activity in medical residents

Abstract

An individual's chronotype is a trait which reflects his/her diurnal preferences for the times of rest and activities, and displays a continuum from morningness to eveningness. Studies have shown that eveningness tends to be associated with a less healthy lifestyle, including increased likelihood of developing obesity. In this study, we examined the relationship between chronotype and food intake, physical sleep and activity in 72 resident physicians (52 women and 20 men). Assessments included chronotype evaluation by the Horne and Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness questionnaire (MEQ); food intake pattern through a self-administered food diary that was kept over the course of 3 non-successive days; physical activity level, using the Baecke questionnaire (BQ); sleep quality and quantity using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); and sleepiness, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Linear regression analyses, after adjustments for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), hours of additional work per week ESS and total physical activity score, showed that the chronotype score was negatively associated with cholesterol (coefficient = -0.24; p = 0.04), sweets (coefficient = -0.27, p = 0.03) and vegetables (coefficient = -0.26; p = 0.04) intakes. Following the same statistical adjustments, the chronotype score was positivity associated with leisure-time index (coefficient = 0.26, p = 0.03) and BQ total score (coefficient = 0.27, p = 0.03). We concluded that most issues related to nutrition problems and unhealthy lifestyle were associated with scores indicative of eveningness. These findings emphasize the importance of assessing an individual's chronotype when examining feeding behavior.

Effects of Sleep, Physical Activity, and Shift Work on Daily Mood: a Prospective Mobile Monitoring Study of Medical Interns

“…Though past studies have explored the consequences of problematic sleep, physical inactivity, and mood in this population, this investigation is the first to measure the association between changes in objectively measured sleep timing and duration and physical activity on daily mood during internship. Critically, our findings add to prior studies 3,4,7,10,24 suggesting that long work hours, insufficient sleep, and circadian challenging shift schedules may create an insalubrious environment for intern mental health. Our data confirm and extend to training physicians the bidirectional relationship between daily mood and sleep duration observed in prior subjective studies.…”

“…[3][4][5][6] Heavy workloads and circadian misaligned shift schedules contribute to high rates of sleep deprivation during internship. 5,[7][8][9][10] Along the same lines, rotating shift work and time constraints represent major barriers to physical activity and exercise in medical residents 11 with residents substantially less active than both medical students and attending physicians. 6,11,12 Prior research on both sleep and activity in residents and their relationship with mood has been limited by reliance on subjective retrospective estimates of average sleep duration and activity over periods of weeks or months.…”

Caffeinated Drinks Intake, Late Chronotype, and Increased Body Mass Index among Medical Students in Chongqing, China: A Multiple Mediation Model

“…Eveningness (“night owls”) is the reverse, in that these people prefer to stay up late and get up at a later time [13]. Furthermore, the chronotype may potentially modify individual life behavior and eating time [14]. Therefore, chronotype could be hypothetically identified as independently associated with other behavioral risk factors about being overweight and obesity (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine) [15].…”

Calidad de la dieta del personal de salud de un hospital chileno según el índice de alimentación saludable

“…Experiencias internacionales demuestran que el personal que trabaja en servicios hospitalarios tiene mayor probabilidad de presentar factores de riesgos asociados a las ECNT, entre ellos, pocas horas de sueño, bajos niveles de consumo de frutas y verduras, alto consumo de azucares, sobrepeso, tabaquismo y altos niveles de estrés (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Es así como el trabajar a través de sistemas de turnos nocturnos también tiene repercusiones en el metabolismo, generando un impacto negativo en salud de las personas.…”