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Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2023-11-04"

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  • Circadian and Biological Rhythms in Shift Workers—A Firefighter’s Study
    Publication . Duarte, I.F.; Pereira, J.; Lima, JPM.; Simões, H.; Pereira, T.; Conde, J.
    Shift Work contribute to dysregulation of the typical sleep and awake periods that cause circadian distortions, increasing the risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity and developing metabolic diseases. Firefighting is a career that demands much of individuals and has a great impact on their health, making it a high-risk job. Objectives: This study aims to characterize shift workers’ blood pressure profiles in an attempt to understand the repercussions of shift work on the circadian blood pressure rhythm in a sample of professional firefighters. Materials and methods: Participants were classified based on their dipping status: dipper drop of 10–20%; non-dipper 0–10%; invert-dipper when there is a rise in BP; extreme-dipper superior to 20%. Results: Abnormal dipping was found in 55.6% of the participants, and there was a marked difference in gender in percentage where dipping is concerned, with 66.7% of women having abnormal dipping against 50% of the men. It was proved that men had a slower heart rate than women (p-value = 0.029) and that dippers had a higher 24 h DBP compared with those of abnormal dipping (p-value = 0.049). Conclusions: Shift work is a high-risk module of labor, and its consequences require a more thorough examination. Abnormal dip- ping prevailed in firefighters, and the differences between genders need to be better characterized in future studies. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.
    2023-11-04Book part Open access Show more
  • Influence of Postural Intervention During the Sleep Period on Back Pain, Quality of Life and Sleep Quality in Young Adults
    Publication . Desouzart, Gustavo; Filgueiras, Ernesto; Matos, Rui
    Human health may have several problems that occur when sleep disturbances are verified, causing a loss in the quality of life, autonomic dysfunction and decreased professional or academic performance. Objective: The aim is check if the ergonomic intervention can mean positive changes in the indices of back pain (BP) complains, quality of life (QOL) and sleep quality (SQ) in young adults. Methods: A sample of 21,560 observations (595 sleep hours) of 24 young adults (12 male military and 12 female undergraduate) were separated in three groups (Experimental [EG], Placebo [PG] and Control [CG]). The sleep behavior was classified into two Interaction Categories according to the iSEE methodology observation. For the carrying out, the Visual Analogue Scale, the abbreviated questionnaire of World Health Organization on quality of life and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used before and after an ergonomic intervention program by physiotherapy. Results: EG improved self-perception of SQ (p = 0.008), QOL (p = 0.000), reduce the level of BP (p = 0.001) and change for an ideal posture while sleeping. Conclusion: The findings of this study allow us to suggest to health care professionals, in particular the rehabilitation professionals, new strategies for ergonomic postural behavior.
    2023-11-04Book part Restricted access Show more