The Impact of Social Jetlag on Sleep Quality among Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Social jetlag (SJL) refers to an asynchrony between one’s chronotype and social working hours, which can be detrimental to health. The current SJL situation in shift nurses who work in dysregulation is poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate SJL during night shifts and identify the predictors of sleep quality in rotating shift nurses. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 on a sample of 132 shift-working nurses from two general hospitals in South Korea (the response rate was 88.8%). The SJL was measured with the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, and sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Verran and Snyder–Halpern Sleep Scale. Data analysis was mainly based on a multiple regression, to identify SJL’s influence on nurses’ sleep quality. The average SJL during night shifts was 2 h and 3 min, and the average sleep duration during night shifts was 6 h 10 min. Multiple regression analysis revealed that SJL, day-shift fatigue, and sleep quality during night shifts affected nurses’ sleep quality. These variables accounted for 24.7% of the variance in overall sleep quality. The study concluded that overall sleep quality can increase with decreasing day-shift fatigue, decreasing SJL, and increasing sleep quality on night shifts.

Chronotype and Social Jetlag Influence Performance and Injury during Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Physical Training

“…Our small cohort demonstrated slightly higher levels of SJL on average (~2 h), with only two cadets having <1 h SJL. This is actually similar to the average SJL reported for a population of night shift nurses [ 37 ], indicating rather extreme desynchrony between ROTC-related schedules and social clocks. Though several studies have found a relationship between SJL and chronotype (indicating evening types have a greater discrepancy between work and social clocks) [ 24 , 38 ], we observed weak associations between SJL and MEQ scores (R 2 = 0.09), as well as SJL and SD (R 2 < 0.01, data not shown).…”

Biological Rhythm and Chronotype: New Perspectives in Health

“…However, social jet lag does not exclusively affect adolescents, as it has also been reported in shift workers, whose work during the night leads to a desynchronization of the circadian rhythm [191], and in young adults [192]. In contrast, not all populations showed a great social jet lag manifestation; for example, the Chinese population reported the social jet lag less frequently than the European population, and it was not correlated with higher BMI as it typically is in western societies [193].…”

Social jetlag and depression in female rotating‐shift nurses: A secondary analysis

“…As they are working in a three‐shift schedule, the daily routine often changes according to the shift work. Shift workers are more severely affected by social jetlag than nonshift workers because of the continuously changing work schedule, in addition to temporary disturbances in their circadian rhythm (Hulsegge et al, 2019; Kang et al, 2021). This is consistent with previous studies that reported that social jetlag affects depression (Islam et al, 2020).…”