Epidemiological Studies on the Relationship between PTSD Symptoms and Circadian Typology and Mental/Sleep Health of Young People Who Suffered a Natural Disaster, Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
This study aims, first, to determine the
relationship between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and current
circadian typology and sleep habits of adults who experienced the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in their childhood in
January 1995. An integrated questionnaire was administered to 275 university students (females:
173, males: 93, unknown: 9) aged 19 - 37 (mean age: 21.9 years) in Hyogo Prefecture,
Japan. The questionnaire consisted of basic questions about attributes,
questions on sleep habits and sleep quality (Monroe’s sleep quality index), the
Torsvall-?kerstedt Diurnal
Type Scale and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) to obtain PTSD scores.
Participants who scored 25 or more in the IES-R were placed in a high-traumatic
group (HTG) and those who scored less than 25 were placed in a low-traumatic
group (LTG). HTG participants exhibited significantly worse sleep
quality than LTG participants (p < 0.001). Although there was no significant
difference in sleep latency (p > 0.05), HTG participants woke more frequently during sleep (p < 0.001) and had more difficulty falling asleep
(p = 0.001) than LHG participants. Significantly more LTG participants
fell asleep easily and slept deeply than HTG participants (p = 0.005, p = 0.011). Only among females, HTG participants
were more evening-typed than LTG participants (p = 0.035). These results suggest that people who
suffered a disaster in childhood and currently have PTSD have difficulty
achieving high sleep quality. Evening-type lifestyles may reinforce the
symptoms of PTSD. The study aims, second, to examine the effects of intervention
for one month using a leaflet to promote the morning-typed life for persons who
suffered natural disaster entitled “Go to bed early, Get up early and Do not
forget to have a breakfast for getting three benefits!”. Only one person was
over the cutoff point (between 24 and 25) before intervention. This
high-traumatic person’s comprehensive sleep health tended to be improved
through the intervention (p = 0.052). Such intervention to improve their
quality of sleep and promote a morning-typed lifestyle may be an effective way
to reduce PTSD symptoms.
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