Effects of Power Napping on the Working Population of Islamabad

Abstract

Background: Sleep is a prime component of the optimal health and performance in addition to nutrition and exercise. Effective Sleep is essential for the daytime alertness & elevated performance in every aspect of life.

Objective: To determine the frequency of workers taking power naps in Islamabad and to compare Quality of life (QOL) and Fatigue levels of nappers and non-nappers.

Methodology: This was a comparative cross sectional study conducted in Islamabad, Pakistan. A total of 361 participants with age range of 18-60 years from any profession & of both genders were recruited through simple random sampling technique. Demographics were taken via self-structured questionnaire and their quality of life and fatigue levels were assessed through World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire and Fatigue Assessment Scale respectively. Quality of life and fatigue levels of Nappers and Non-nappers were compared through independent sample t-test. The data was analysed using IBM-SPSS Statistics 26.

Results: The mean age of the population was 32.54 ± 8.47 years. Majority 213 (59.0%) of the population was taking power naps and 148(41.0%) were non-nappers. Between groups analysis showed better QOL of nappers in Physical Health, Psychological and Environmental health domains then non-nappers. P value showed significant difference (p-value < 0.05) between the groups in all these three domains however both the groups were having good social relationships when assessed through WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. Results also showed that Fatigue was more prevalent in non-nappers 67 (45.3%) then nappers 61 (28.6%).

Conclusion: This study concluded that majority of the working population of Islamabad is taking power naps and observing beneficial effects of it on QOL and Fatigue levels.

Keywords: Adults, Fatigue, Quality of life, Sleep