Relationship Between Sleep Quality And Mental And Physical Motivation In Manufacturing Workers

Physically demanding occupations require high levels of energy expenditure, mental awareness, and technical skill to complete their work. Previous research has indicated that individual response to lifestyle behaviors, such as sleep, may modify energy and fatigue mood states, leading to changes in the motivation to complete mental and physical tasks. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between self-reported sleep quality and pre- and post-shift mental and physical motivation in manufacturing workers. METHODS: Self-reported sleep quality from the prior night (1 = very good; 4 = very bad) was assessed in manufacturing workers (n = 9; Female = 2; Age = 41 ± 12 yrs; BMI = 33.97 ± 7.45 kg/m2) on four consecutive days (D1 - D4) at a manufacturing facility in Dallas, TX. Before and after each workday, mental and physical motivation scores (0 - 100) were assessed using visual analogue scales. The relationship between self-reported sleep quality and pre- and post-shift mental and physical motivation scores were analyzed via Spearman correlations. RESULTS: There was a significant negative correlation across the work week between self-reported sleep quality and pre- and post-shift mental (r = -0.72; r = -0.71) and physical (r = -0.69; r = -0.77) motivation scores (p < 0.0001 for all). The significance of this relationship varied on individual shift days. There was a negative correlation for pre-shift mental and physical motivation on D1 (r = -0.93, p = 0.03; r = -0.93, p = 0.03) and D2 (r = -0.88, p = 0.01; r = -0.82, p = 0.02), but not D3 (r = -0.38, p = 0.32; r = -0.52, p = 0.15) or D4 (r = -0.55, p = 0.15; r = -0.59, p = 0.13). Likewise, there was a negative correlation for post-shift mental motivation on D2 (r = -0.88, p = 0.01) and D4 (r = -0.76, p = 0.03), but not D1 (r = -0.83, p = 0.07) or D3 (r = -0.49, p = 0.21), and post-shift physical motivation on D1 (r = -0.93, p = 0.03), D2 (r = -0.74, p = 0.04), and D4 (r = -0.82, p = 0.02), but not D3 (r = -0.62, p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that improvements in self-reported sleep quality may lead to increased motivation to complete mental and physical tasks prior to and immediately following a work shift in manufacturing workers. This study was funded by PepsiCo, Inc. The views expressed in this abstract are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of PepsiCo, Inc.