gamified sleep intervention for veterans: an overview

A good night’s sleep is well known to be imperative for maintaining one’s overall wellness. Yet, about half of Canadian adults struggle with falling asleep or maintaining sleep. The impacts of insufficient sleep are wide-ranging, from physiological correlates such as diabetes to mental correlates such as depression. Effective treatments for sleep-related issues exist: for example, online interventions for insomnia have been found to be effective. As a medicine and a health psychology student at, respectively, Sherbrooke University and McGill University, we worked on the MissionVAV health promotion program during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing free gamified interventions for Canadian Veterans and their families. Over the course of several online interventions related to physical health, we observed that a large proportion of our participants were dissatisfied with their sleep. Consequently, we have developed an 8-week online sleep intervention to address this primordial element of primary prevention. The intervention aims to better our participants’ sleep through providing weekly readings on the following topics: age-related changes in sleep, proper sleep hygiene, varied relaxation techniques as well as the relationship between sleep and chronic pain, menopause, shift work, rumination, exercise and light. To promote healthy sleep hygiene habits, daily self-assessment questions are provided and are incentivized through points and storytelling. Furthermore, health coaches trained in sleep medicine follow participants throughout their journey to provide support and reinforcement. Ultimately, the intervention aims to shed light on the importance of sleep within preventative medicine, tackling it systematically in an engaging, gamified fashion.

Hubungan Perilaku Sleep Hygiene dengan Kualitas Tidur Pada Kelompok Lansia di Panti Tresna Werdha Ambon

Latar Belakang: Pada umumnya lansia memiliki waktu tidur berkisar 6-7 jam per hari. Kualitas tidur yang sangat kurang dapat menyebabkan beberapa masalah kesehatan yaitu insomnia. Salah satu faktor yang mempengaruhi yaitu lingkungan yang meliputi, suasana yang ramai, penerangan yang berlebihan, serta kurangnya kebersihan lingkungan. Salah satu terapi sederhana yang dapat diterapkan yaitu dengan menerapkan perilaku sleep hygiene yang merupakan penerapan terapi yang sangat sederhana dan mudah dilakukan untuk meningkatkan kualitas tidur. Tujuan: untuk mengetahui hubungan sleep hygiene dengan kualitas tidur pada lansia di Panti Tresna Werdha Ina Kaka Kota Ambon. Metode: Jenis penelitian observasi analitik dengan desain cross sectional study. Sampel dipilih dengan cara non-probality dengan teknik total sampling dengan jumlah responden 35 lansia. Instrument penelitian untuk mengukur sleep hygiene menggunakan sleep hygiene index (SHI) dan untuk mengukur kualitas tidur menggunakan pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Hasil: Hasil pengamatan analisis menggunakan uji statistik Chi-square dengan tingkat kemaknaan ? = 0,05 (5%) diperoleh nilai p = 0,000 sehingga p < ? artinya ada hubungan perilaku sleep hygiene dengan kualitas tidur pada lansia. Perilaku sleep hygiene perlu dilakukan untuk mendapatkan kualitas tidur yang baik. Sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa penerapan sleep hygiene dapat memperbaiki kualitas tidur lansia. Kesimpulan: Perilaku sleep hygiene perlu dilakukan untuk mendapatkan kualitas tidur yang baik. Sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa penerapan sleep hygiene dapat memperbaiki kualitas tidur lansia.

The Hidden Public Health Problem of Inadequate Sleep: Deploying Digital Mobile Technology to Improve Employee Sleep Hygiene in Asia

To evaluate the impact of an on demand, digital mobile application deployed via smartphone on the sleep hygiene and nightly duration of employee program participants within a large multinational banking enterprise.

Can an E-Mail-Delivered CBT for Insomnia Validated in the West Be Effective in the East? A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study examined the effects of an e-mail-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), validated in Western countries, on insomnia severity, anxiety, and depression in young adults with insomnia in Eastern countries, particularly Japan. This prospective parallel-group randomized clinical trial included college students with Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scores of ten or higher. Participants were recruited via advertising on a university campus and randomized to an e-mail-delivered CBT-I (REFRESH) or self-monitoring (SM) with sleep diaries group. The primary outcomes were insomnia severity, anxiety, and depression; secondary outcomes were sleep hygiene practices, dysfunctional beliefs, sleep reactivity, and pre-sleep arousal. All measurements were assessed before and after the intervention. A total of 48 participants (mean (SD) age, 19.56 (1.86) years; 67% female) were randomized and included in the analysis. The results of the intent-to-treat analysis showed a significant interaction effect for insomnia severity, anxiety, depression, sleep hygiene practice, and pre-sleep arousal. Compared with the SM group, the REFRESH group was more effective in reducing insomnia severity (Hedges’ g = 1.50), anxiety (g = 0.97), and depression (g = 0.61) post-intervention. These findings suggest that an e-mail-delivered CBT-I may be an effective treatment for young adults with elevated insomnia symptoms living in Japan.

Proportion and Characteristics of Insomnia among Lecturers Continuing Postgraduate Education at the Faculty of Medicine Udayana University

Fatigue and work stress can trigger insomnia. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder with a prevalence of 10-30% in the world population. One of the professions that are prone to work burnout are lecturers, especially lecturers who are currently pursuing postgraduate education. These lecturers have two roles, namely as educators and college students, so they have a fairly solid task. This study aims to determine the proportion and characteristics of insomnia in lecturers who continue their postgraduate education at the Faculty of Medicine. This research is a descriptive observational study with a cross-sectional approach. The data collection technique was carried out by total sampling by distributing questionnaires to lecturers who continuing postgraduate education at the Faculty of Medicine. This study involved 41 subjects who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of all subjects, 24.4% had mild insomnia, the rest did not experience insomnia. Mild insomnia is most common in the early adult age group, with more frequent in males than females. Subject have varying stress levels. More obese and do not apply sleep hygiene. All subjects do not smoke, most do not consume coffee and alcohol. In conclusion, the proportion of insomnia among lecturers who continue their postgraduate education at the Faculty of Medicine is 24.4% with mild insomnia category. Mild insomnia is more common in male lecturers in early adulthood with varying levels of stress and most of them are obese and do not apply sleep hygiene. Keywords: [Insomnia, Lecturer, Student, Postgraduate].

Does smoking impair sleep hygiene?

ABSTRACT Background: Sleep architecture and sleep hygiene might be disrupted by several pathogenetic mechanisms, and the effect of smoking has not been evaluated. Objective: To investigate the effect of smoking on sleep hygiene behaviors that might be associated with the deterioration of quality-of-life (QoL) parameters. Methods: In a prospective cross-sectional study, smokers (n=114) and nonsmokers (n=119) were included. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality İndex (PSQI), the Epworth Daytime Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI), and the Short Form-36 quality of life scale (SF-36) were applied. Results: We found that none of the components, as well as the PSQI total score were affected in smokers compared with the nonsmoker controls (65.5% of smokers had poor sleep compared to 62.5% of nonsmokers). Although smokers tend to get out of bed at different times from day to day and do important work before bedtime (components of the SHI) more often than non-smokers, no significant differences were detected between groups in any component and SHI total score (27.91±6.72 for smokers and 29.23±8.0 for non-smokers). ESS, depression and anxiety symptoms, and SHI scores in smokers with poor sleep quality were significantly different compared with smokers that had normal sleep quality. Both PSQI and SHI scores were inversely associated with QoL parameters. Conclusions: Our results suggest that smoking by itself is not associated with poor sleep hygiene or sleep quality. It can be concluded that worse SHI and quality of sleep negatively affect QoL, depression, and anxiety in smokers.

Dance the Night Away: How Automatic TikTok Use Creates Pre-Sleep Cognitive Arousal and Daytime Fatigue

TikTok is one of the most popular apps. TikTok's endless stream of content, the lack time stamps or notifications of ever being “all caught up,” and concealing the phone's clock make it easy to lose track of time on TikTok. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how TikTok use may therefore interfere with our circadian rhythms, particularly our sleep hygiene. By focusing on pre-sleep cognitive arousal, this study aimed to close this knowledge gap by investigating the association between automatic TikTok use and daytime fatigue. We also investigated how individual preferences for sensation seeking and delayed gratification moderated this relationship. Within a sample of 1,050 TikTok/Douyin users in China, automatic TikTok use was associated with increased daytime fatigue that was mediated by higher levels of cognitive arousal before sleep. This relationship was aggravated by a preference for sensation seeking, and attenuated by a preference for delayed gratification. Above and beyond these early empirical insights, we also provide an early explanatory framework that is meant to systematize both existing and future knowledge about the use of TikTok.

Predicting Youth Athlete Sleep Quality and the Development of a Translational Tool to Inform Practitioner Decision Making

Background: Identifying key variables that predict sleep quality in youth athletes allows practitioners to monitor the most parsimonious set of variables that can improve athlete buy-in and compliance for athlete self-report measurement. Translating these findings into a decision-making tool could facilitate practitioner willingness to monitor sleep in athletes. Hypothesis: Key predictor variables, identified by feature reduction techniques, will lead to higher predictive accuracy in determining youth athletes with poor sleep quality. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Level of Evidence: Level 3. Methods: A group (N = 115) of elite youth athletes completed questionnaires consisting of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and questions on sport participation, training, sleep environment, and sleep hygiene habits. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model was used for feature reduction and to select factors to train a feature-reduced sleep quality classification model. These were compared with a classification model utilizing the full feature set. Results: Sport type, training before 8 am, training hours per week, presleep computer usage, presleep texting or calling, prebedtime reading, and during-sleep time checks on digital devices were identified as variables of greatest influence on sleep quality and used for the reduced feature set modeling. The reduced feature set model performed better (area under the curve, 0.80; sensitivity, 0.57; specificity, 0.80) than the full feature set models in classifying youth athlete sleep quality. Conclusion: The findings of our study highlight that sleep quality of elite youth athletes is best predicted by specific sport participation, training, and sleep hygiene habits. Clinical Relevance: Education and interventions around the training and sleep hygiene factors that were identified to most influence the sleep quality of youth athletes could be prioritized to optimize their sleep characteristics. The developed sleep quality nomogram may be useful as a decision-making tool to improve sleep monitoring practice among practitioners.