Evaluation of the effect of circadian rhythm on nutritional status, physical activity level and excessive food desire in shift working nurses

It is known that changes in nutrition patterns and induced circadian rhythm changes in shift-working nurses have an effect on nutritional status, physical activity level and excessive food demand. This study was planned and conducted to evaluate the relationship between nutritional status, physical activity levels and circadian rhythms of nurses working in rotational shifts during the day and night shifts. This cross-sectional study was conducted at Gazi University Medical Faculty Hospital between October 2022 and December 2022. 150 nurses between the ages of 20-45 were included in our study. A questionnaire consisting of 32 questions was created to determine general information and nutritional habits of nurses. The questionnaire forms were applied face-to-face to the individuals to determine their sociodemographic characteristics, working conditions and related life changes, smoking and alcohol use, having a chronic disease, drug use, physical activity status, nutritional habits, diet patterns in the hospital and daily life, eating speed. Questions were asked about daily consumption of tea, coffee and water. Within the scope of our study, the Morning-Evening Scale (SAÖ) was also applied, and according to the results of the scale, nurses were grouped as "morning", "evening" and "intermediate type" according to their chronotypes. Body weight and height measurements of the individuals were made by the researcher. In the study, first of all, validity and reliability studies were conducted for the Turkish version of the Excess Food Craving Scale (FCQ), which will be applied to evaluate the patients' excessive food cravings, and all factor dimensions in the original scale were obtained. Beck depression inventory (BDI) is a self-report scale that measures an individual's emotional, cognitive, somatic and motivational states. Although this scale was developed to evaluate the symptoms of depression in detail, it also provides the assessment of cognitive status. In this context, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to evaluate the depression status of individuals. All of the nurses who will participate in the study work alternately in 2 different shift types with 08:00-16:00 and 16:00-08:00 hours. The mean age of the nurses is 35.82±6.37. In the data regarding the evaluation of the general health status of individuals, it was determined that 64.67% of the nurses did not have a chronic disease, 71.33% (n:107) did not use drugs, and 48% (n:72) never smoked. Considering the data on the evaluation of the general health status of individuals according to their chronotype characteristics, it was observed that 35% (n:21) of the evening people and 36.11% (n:13) of the morning people had a chronic illness. In standard working individuals, the average sleep duration was 7.03±1.44 (hours/day) in evening hours, while it was 7.35±1.45 (hours/day) in morning individuals. While the average sleep duration was 4.25±1.56 (hours/day) in evening shift individuals, it was determined as 3.82±1.49 (hours/day) in morning-time individuals. When we look at the data obtained from the extreme food craving scale and its sub-dimensions applied to the nurses participating in the study, the total score averages of the nurses participating in the study were found in evening individuals (196.25±26.94), intermediate individuals (145.41±40.34), and morning individuals (92.99±36.27). In our study, it was found that there was no statistically significant change in physical activity levels, energy and macronutrient intakes between day and night shifts (p> 0.05), and sleep duration of individuals decreased during night shift (p <0.05).