Effect of Sleep Quality on Psychiatric Symptoms and Life Quality in Newspaper Couriers

Working at unusual hours has been found to be related to sleep problems, psychiatric symptoms, and low quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sleep quality on psychiatric symptoms and the quality of life in newspaper couriers who permanently wake up at early morning hours.

Thirty-five newspaper couriers who worked for a media company in Ankara and 35 healthy individuals who worked at usual hours and who were matched according to age, gender, and work duration were included in the study. All individuals were evaluated using the demographic forms, Symptom Checklist (SCL)-90-R, Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Short Form-36 (SF-36).

The somatization subscale of SCL-90-R and the sleep duration sub-component scores of PSQI were significantly higher and the physical role functioning domain score of SF-36 was significantly lower in newspaper couriers compared with the scores in healthy individuals. There were significantly positive correlations between the PSQI total and sub-component scores and the SCL-90-R subscale and global symptom index scores. There were significantly negative correlations between the PSQI total and sub-component scores and the SF-36 domain scores.

This study demonstrates that waking up permanently at early morning hours may be related to sleep disturbances, psychiatric symptoms, and low quality of life. Measures to increase sleep quality in individuals working at unusual hours may improve their mental health and quality of life. Future studies should investigate the effects of interventions toward sleep disturbances on mental health and quality of life in different occupational groups.