Implication of Sleep and Food Intake Pattern on the Depressive Status of the Female Shift Workers Engaged in Two-Shift System

Purpose Shift working is an inevitable part of healthcare organizations worldwide and female nurses are involved in performing rotating shifts of varying length and type which alters their preferential time for physiological activity. Shift work is linked with impaired sleep quality, irregular meal times, and imbalance dietary intakes with compromised nutrient contents. Our objective was to investigate the association between food intake and sleep pattern with the presence of depressive symptomatology among shift working female nurses engaged in two-shift system of 12 h duration. Method The study was carried out on 80 females aged between 22 and 65 years having a minimum of 2 years of experience in shift work. Sociodemographic data, sleep parameters using the MCTQshift questionnaire, sleepiness at unusual timings using ESS, sleep quality using PSQI, and meal timings with dietary intake in every shift were assessed. The presence of depressive symptomatology was measured by CES-D. Results The present study depicted altered meal timings in every shift which lies in accordance with depressive symptomatology, with significant ( p