Impact of COVID-19 online classes on morningness-eveningness personality among adult college students: A survey study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 emerged as a serious pandemic in 2019 and billions of people were infected. Various precautionary methods were taken to contain the spread of virus such as social distancing, public lockdown, sanitation, and closure of schools and colleges. Many colleges started online classes to resume their syllabus and to complete the course curriculum. These evening online sessions resulted in late night sleep, long term mobile/computer exposure, and disturbed sleep pattern. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to determine the impact of COVID-19 online classes on morningness- eveningness personality and to compare it with different age groups, gender, and body mass index. METHODS: The cluster sampling method was used to collect the subjects from the total of 1153 adult college students, 897 subjects were selected based on the selection criteria and instructed to submit an online survey consists of the Morningness-eveningness Questionnaire and demographic and anthropometric data through mail, social media, or through a researcher by direct interview. RESULTS: The mean score for the 897 participants is 56.7, indicating intermediate morningness-eveningness personality type. On comparing the different groups, the youngest group (18-20 years) scored 4.23%(mean = 46.7), female subjects scored 6.13%(mean = 58.1), the underweight 2.67%(mean = 59.2) and overweight groups scored 2.89%(mean = 59.7) indicating definite eveningness. Among the 897 collected samples of the population 8.13%of the subjects experienced definite eveningness, 14.93%has moderate eveningness, 17.38%are under intermediate category, 22.4%have moderate morningness, and 37.11%have definite morningness. CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with eveningness personality have high risk of developing mental illness, thus it's important to determine the eveningness personality among student population to avoid serious complications in later age.

The impact of the shift system on health and quality of life of sleep technicians.

BACKGROUND: Sleep technicians are at high risk of shift work sleep disorders. We therefore aimed to identify the optimal shift system for sleep technicians. METHODS: We performed a nationwide survey of the work schedules, health and quality of life of sleep technicians using e-mail questionnaires including the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleep Scale (ESS), Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire-10 (FOSQ-10), Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in Korea. A multivariate general linear model was used to assess the effect of shift schedules on health and quality of life. RESULTS: Fifty-four technicians from 30 sleep laboratories participated. Their work schedules were classified as fixed night (F) (n = 18), slow rotation alternating from a night-only to a day-only schedule with a 3-months to one-year interval (S) (n = 20), rapid rotation within a week (R) (n = 5), night once a week (D+) (n = 5) and day (D) (n = 6). The adjusted ISI and HADS-anxiety scores were higher in F, S, and R than D and D+. Among night shift-dominant schedules, a less favorable profile was observed for R followed by F, and S regarding the ISI, FOSQ-10, mental SF-12 and HADS-depression. The physical SF-12 was lower in the order of R, S and F. The HADS-anxiety score was higher in the order of F, R and S. CONCLUSIONS: The S system appears to have the least negative effect on health and quality of life among night shift-dominant systems. The development of consensus guidelines for scheduling shifts in sleep laboratories is urged.

The Effect of Sympathectomy on Circardian Rhythm of Intraocular Pressure in Rat

PURPOSE: The present study was undertaken to determine the 24 - hour pattern of intraocular pressure (IOP), and to reveal the effect of unilateral decentralization on circardian rhythm of IOP in eyes of rats. METHODS: Nine male Sprague - Dawley rats were exposed to a 12 - hour light / dark cycle for 3 weeks. 24-hours IOP pattern was measured at six time points (8, 12, 16, 20, 24, and 4 circardian time) by Tonopen XL tonometer in awake state. After unilateral sympathectomy (cervical ganglionectomy), IOP measurements were performed at the same time points on post-operation 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks. RESULTS: 24 - hour IOP pattern of rats showed a rhythmic pattern that appeared to be sinusoidal with 12 - hour light / dark cycle. IOPs were low during the light phase and high during dark phase. After unilateral sympathectomy, the circardian rhythm of IOP was maintained in control eyes. But in sympathecotmized eyes, the circardian thythm of IOP was loss. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that sympathetic nervous systems contribute to the circardian rhythm of IOP in rats.