Sleep Hygiene and Sleep Quality of Third-Trimester Pregnant Women

Res Nurs Health. 2016 Feb;39(1):57-65. doi: 10.1002/nur.21705. Epub 2015 Dec 9.

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the associations of sleep hygiene and actigraphy measures of sleep with self-reported sleep quality in 197 pregnant women in northern Taiwan. Third-trimester pregnant women completed the Sleep Hygiene Practice Scale (SHPS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) as well as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and wore an actigraph for 7 consecutive days. Student's t-test was used to compare the SHPS scores and means as well as variability of actigraphy sleep variables between poor sleepers (i.e., PSQI global score >5) and good sleepers (i.e., PSQI global score ≤5). Compared to good sleepers, poor sleepers reported significantly worse sleep hygiene, with higher SHPS scores and higher sleep schedule, arousal-related behavior, and sleep environment subscale scores. Poor sleepers had significantly greater intra-individual variability of sleep onset latency, total nighttime sleep, and wake after sleep onset than good sleepers. In stepwise linear regression, older maternal age (p = .01), fewer employment hours per week (p = .01), higher CES-D total score (p < .01), and higher SHPS arousal-related behavior subscale scores (p < .01) predicted self-reported global sleep quality. Findings support avoiding physically, physiologically, emotionally, or cognitively arousing activities before bedtime as a target for sleep-hygiene intervention in women during pregnancy.

Keywords: actigraphy; pregnancy; sleep hygiene; sleep quality; women.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Actigraphy
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Emotions
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hygiene*
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Trimester, Third / physiology*
  • Pregnant Women*
  • Self Report
  • Sleep / physiology*
  • Sleep Wake Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Taiwan
  • Wakefulness / physiology*