Comparative analysis of sleep quality in healthy girls and women during gestation

Abstract

Background: Sleep disorders during pregnancy pose a real threat to the mother and fetus due to a violation of the physiological course of the gestation process, the release of melatonin (central and peripheral). The aim of the study:Comparative evaluation of sleep and chronotype indicators in healthy pregnant and healthy non-pregnant women. Materials and methods: There was conducted a voluntary survey of 210 relatively healthy non-pregnant girls (medical students), the average age was 20±3.5 years, and 69 women with physiological pregnancy (the average age was 29.69±5.03 years) according to the Russian version of the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire in the conditions of Vladikavkaz without a block of subjective self-assessment of the chronotype. 100 people were randomly selected from a group of healthy girls –group 1; pregnant women were divided by trimesters: group 2 (I trimester, 10 women), group 3 (II trimester, 20 women), group 4 – (III trimester, 39 women). Integral indicators were calculated on weekends and working days: the middle and duration of sleep, wake-up time, "jetlag" (desynchronosis), and the chronotype was estimated. Statistical processing was carried out by methods of variational statistics IBM SPSS 23 and Statistica 10.0. Results: Physiological pregnancy is characterized by a statistically significant improvement in sleep indicators, a shift in the middle of sleep to the period of maximum melatonin concentration, a decrease in sleep deficit on working days, and a reduction in jet lag. The increase in sleep duration noted in pregnant women prevents a number of physical and mental health disorders associated with the secretion of melatonin and the restructuring of the NEIM system. In all trimesters of pregnancy, an intermediate chronotype (ImCht) was determined – a "medium" chronotype, in non-pregnant women – a slightly late chronotype (SLCht) – a "slightly late" chronotype, which also speaks in favor of greater sleep stability during the physiological course of pregnancy. Conclusion: The use of the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) in pregnant women allowed us to determine the trends of physiological changes in normal sleep indicators.