Abstract
Background: Professional nurses are prone to fatigue and poor health. Getting sufficient physical activity and sleep have reported benefits. However, the benefit of ample sleep and physical activity to nurse health is understudied. Objective: The goal of the current article is to report nurse general and workplace health, productivity and wellbeing by comparing those professionals with recommended levels of physical activity and sleep to those with reduced profiles. Design: Data were generated from the 2006-08 delivery of the e-Cohort survey of nurses and midwives. Methods: The primary analysis (n=3967) was based on the physical activity and sleep categories: (LS1) Meeting the recommended guidelines or above for both leisure physical time activity and sleep; (LS2) Meeting the recommended guidelines or above for leisure time activity but not sleep; (LS3) Meeting the recommended guidelines or above for sleep but not leisure time activity; and (LS4) Not meeting the recommended guidelines for both leisure time activity and sleep. Results: LS1 were significantly younger, had a lower body mass index than any other group and were the least likely to report in-work difficulty, emotional barriers to workplace productivity and restriction in basic daily tasks. LS4 were more likely to have osteoarthritis, depression and high blood pressure. Conclusion: The study findings confirm health benefits from achieving recommended levels of physical activity and sleep. Adherence to beneficial lifestyle behaviours has important implications for the self-health of nurses. Workforce administrators should consider this when designing programs to reduce nurse workplace burnout and aid workforce retention.
Highlights
Nurses are often reported less than healthy and engaged in health risk behaviours such as poor dietary habits, lack of exercise and physical activity, and smoking [1,2,3]
Of the 290 000 Australian and 44 400 New Zealand registered and enrolled nurses and midwives eligible for inclusion, 8247 participated in the survey [22], and 3967 nurses with sleep and physical activity data were included in this analysis
This study demonstrates the benefits to nurses of meeting and exceeding the recommended guidelines for physical activity and sleep
Summary
Nurses are often reported less than healthy and engaged in health risk behaviours such as poor dietary habits, lack of exercise and physical activity, and smoking [1,2,3]. Nurses often spiral into fatigue, drowsiness and burnout, which culminate in reduced patient care and staff turnover [5,6]. For those nurses engaged in healthy lifestyle behaviours, measurable positive physical and workplace wellbeing benefits are reported [7,8,9]. The benefit of ample sleep and physical activity to nurse health is understudied
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