Impact of Sleep on Medical Residents' Emotions: A Cross-Sectional Study Using a Wearable Device

Controlling negative emotions and getting sufficient sleep are key factors in reducing medical errors and optimizing quality of care. The objective of this study was to measure the relationship between the emotions of medical residents and sleep as measured by a wearable device.

We conducted a cross-sectional study addressing all residents of all postgraduation years and specialties at an Accreditation for Graduate Medical Educations-I accredited institution over 6 months. Sleep quantity and quality were measured by Fitbit Charge 2 device, and daily emotions by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule questionnaire.

We included a total of 45 participants with a total of 1,112 observations (response rate=19.3%). The mean duration of total daily sleep was 5.9±1.6 hours, with a deep sleep time of 1.1±0.4 hours. We found a negative association between negative emotions and total sleep (rrm=-0.14, P<.0001) and deep sleep (rrm=-0.11, P=.0005) using repetitive measures correlation. A linear regression model to predict the negative emotions of the residents revealed additional determinants beyond deep sleep.

Our findings provide a further understanding of the importance of sleep quality on emotions by emphasizing deep sleep as a predictor of the second-day affect. Residency programs should strive to provide an ideal sleep environment to their residents and deliver workshops to deal with negative emotions.