Sleep Hygiene Intervention and its Effectiveness in Reduction of Insomnia and Obesity among Undergraduate Medical Students

Introduction: Adequate amount and quality of sleep is the basic need for any human. Children and adolescents requires at least eight to nine hours of sleep per night. Insomnia results in both mental and physical health consequences, diminished productivity, accident proneness, increased medical utilisation and elevated risk of psychiatric disorders. Sleep hygiene intervention is a behavioral intervention to improve sleep quality. Aim: To determine the effectiveness of sleep hygiene intervention programme in reduction of insomnia and obesity among undergraduate medical students. Materials and Methods: This interventional study was conducted at Tagore Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, India, January 2019 to May 2019, among 602 undergraduate medical students. Study was conducted in two phases, in phase 1, participants were surveyed for Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scoring and BMI. Those with ISI scores between 8-21 and BMI ≥30 kg/m2 were eligible for phase 2. In phase 2 using, stratified random sampling total 100 subjects, 50 each for control and intervention group were selected. Periodical sleep hygiene intervention was given for intervention group, insisting to follow 10 simple non pharmacological behavioral measures. Follow-up assessment of weight (kg) and ISI scoring was done. Paired t-test, repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Bonferine Posthoc test was done to identify the statistical significance using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Results: Among the 100 participants in phase II, 29 were female in both control and intervention group. The prevalence of Subthreshold insomnia 289 (48%) was higher. Over 4 month period comparison, intervention group had better reduction in weight {(62.48±10.62 kg to 51.48±6.88 kg) vs (61.58±10.35 kg to 62.48±10.66 kg)} and insomnia severity (13.70±3.62 to 10.34±2.43) vs (12.56±3.78 to 13.50±3.63) than control group. Conclusion: Simple non pharmacological intervention seems to have greater benefits in improving sleep hygiene and reducing obesity

Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in an urban area of Puducherry, India: Time for preventive action

BACKGROUND:

Epidemiological studies in India have shown that the prevalence of diabetes in the population is at least twice the number of persons diagnosed with diabetes residing in the given area. Similarly, community-based prevalence figures are unavailable in Puducherry,.

AIMS:

The aim of this study was to estimate the number of persons diagnosed with diabetes mellitus in Puducherry.

SETTING AND DESIGN:

This study was conducted in the service area of the Urban Health Centre (UHC), Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Puducherry with retrospective data from family records.

METHODS:

The diagnosis of diabetes was retrospectively documented by reviewing all family folders of 2667 families (Population 11,835) for the period of 1/1/2003 to 31/12/2006. The data was verified by home visits from January until March, 2007. The case definition used, was a resident diagnosed with diabetes by a medical doctor and who was on antidiabetes treatment for at least the past six months.

RESULTS:

We found 643 individuals who had been diagnosed with diabetes. The prevalence of known diabetes was estimated to be 5.6% (5.31% in males and 6.1% in females). The age-sex specific prevalence was estimated using the 2001 Census data. There are about 48,876 known diabetics living in Puducherry.

CONCLUSIONS:

(1) Community-based health surveillance data comprise a useful tool to measure the prevalence of diagnosed cases of diabetes mellitus within the Indian context; 2) Diabetes mellitus is an important public health priority requiring urgent preventive action as there are about 97,752 persons in Puducherry who have either been diagnosed with diabetes or remain undiagnosed for the disease.