Alcohol use and poor sleep quality: a longitudinal twin study across 36 years

Associations between sleep medication use and alcohol consumption over 36 years in Finnish twins

BACKGROUND

Sleep medication use is an indicator of underlying sleep problems that might be induced by various factors such as alcohol use. However, the longitudinal relationship between drinking and sleep problems remains poorly understood. We investigated associations between sleep medication and alcohol use throughout adulthood, and examined the role of familial and potential confounding factors contributing to these associations.

METHODS

We used information of zygosity and self-report questionnaire data over a follow-up period of 36 years from the Older Finnish Twin Cohort (N=13,851).

RESULTS

Logistic regression analyses suggested consistent associations between sleep medication use and heavy/binge drinking at all four time points (OR range =1.36-3.18, P <0.05), implying that increased drinking is associated with increased sleep medication use over time. Cross-lagged path analyses suggested that moderate/heavy and binge drinking predict sleep medication use at most time points (OR range = 1.15-1.94, P <0.05), whilst sleep medication use predicts subsequent abstaining from alcohol (OR range =2.26-2.47, P <0.05). Within-pair analyses implied that familial factors play a role, and quantitative genetic modelling estimated genetic factors to explain approximately 80% of the lifetime association of sleep medication use with moderate/heavy and binge drinking.

CONCLUSIONS

Drinking is associated with sleep medication use throughout adulthood. Further, our results suggest that drinking is likely to predict sleep medication use, thereby potentially constituting a risk factor for sleep problems, and that genetic factors contribute to the association. These findings are important in terms of better understanding the development of sleep and alcohol use disorders.

Sleep disorders and work-related stress with oral hygiene among Indian shift workers

Construction workers are mostly migrants from isolated villages and are not vigilant about health care measures besides poor language skills. Majority of the population works in shifts across the globe. As a result of poor sleep architecture, excessive sleepiness or insomnia, the construction labourers working in shifts have approximately twice the risk of OSA when compared with those working in the daytime. Likewise, the performance and the productivity of employees in construction sites are impeded by added stress. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the sleep disorders, work-related stress and its impact on oral hygiene among the construction workers in Chennai. A cross sectional study was conducted among 518 workers in various construction sites at Chennai, South India. The study incorporated BerlinQuestionnaire to evaluate disordered breathing during sleep, the Work Ability Index that contains questions concerning work, working ability and health and the Oral Hygiene Index Simplified (Greene and Vermillion, 1964) that was used for recording the oral hygiene status. Pearson correlation between education and OHI-S was statistically significant (r=-0.108). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that mean WAI score had a positive significant association with work experience (B=0.059, SE=0.030, p=0.05), habits (B=0.032, SE=0.017, p=0.05) and marital status (B=0.135, SE=0.54, p=0.01). In contrast, education (B=-0.0.052, SE=0.023, p=0.02) and work schedule (B=0.022, SE=0.037, p=0.54) were inversely associated with the mean score. Based on the current findings, it is imperative to restore work ability for those with poor work ability thereby enhancing productivity in the migrant workers. As shift work may be extremely detrimental to poor sleep quality, the employers should arrange shift schedules in accordance with sleep physiology. Additionally, dental awareness and interventions are required to improve oral hygiene among migrant workers.