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Impact of commuting distance and school timing on sleep of school students

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Abstract

The insufficiency of sleep has become a widespread problem. The global development and rise of megacities have resulted in a drastic change in the life style of modern man. Increase in the daily commuting distance of a worker is a consequence of such development that has become a potential cause of reduced duration of sleep in the population. The problem of sleep deprivation persists across individuals of all age groups. An adolescent whose sleep requirement is higher than the adults and pre-adolescent children is also not an exception. The phase of adolescence is associated with the delayed bedtime and earlier wake time due to the early morning schools. In this regard, it is important to know the factors that contribute towards sleep reduction in adolescents. Long travelling distance from home to school is one such factor. This study signifies the combinatorial effect of daily commuting distance and school timing on the sleep duration of an adolescent studying in morning and dayshift schools. Findings of the present investigations revealed that commuting distance and school timings have profound effect on sleep of adolescent school students. The average sleepiness score of morning shift students is more than normal sleepiness level suggesting a chronic sleep deprivation among this group and rendering them to higher risk of excessive daytime sleepiness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, India

    Rohit Kumar Pradhan & Niharika Sinha

Authors
  1. Rohit Kumar Pradhan
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  2. Niharika Sinha
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rohit Kumar Pradhan.

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Funding

This study was funded by Chhattisgarh Council of Science and Technology (CGCOST), Raipur (Grant No. 8043/CCOST/MRP/13, Raipur dated 27/12/2013).

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (IEC Ref No. 017/IEC/PRSU/2013 dated April 15, 2013) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Pradhan, R.K., Sinha, N. Impact of commuting distance and school timing on sleep of school students. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 15, 153–158 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-017-0091-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-017-0091-0

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