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Biomedical subjects

P Totterdell

Publications and source records attributed to P Totterdell.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Catching moods and hitting runs: mood linkage and subjective performance in professional sport teams.

Are the moods and subjective performances of professional sports players associated with the ongoing collective moods of their teammates? Players from 2 professional cricket teams used pocket computers to provide ratings of their moods and performances 3 times a day for 4 days during a competitive match between the teams. Pooled time-series analysis showed significant associations between the average of teammates' happy moods and the players' own moods and subjective performances; the associations were independent of hassles and favorable standing in the match. Mood linkage was greater when players were happier and engaged in collective activity. An intraperson analysis of data from these teams and 2 other teams showed that mood linkage was also greater for players who were older, more committed to the team, and more susceptible to emotional contagion. The results support and extend previous findings concerning mood linkage.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Diurnal variations in the mood and performance of highly practised young women living under strictly controlled conditions.

The diurnal variation in a range of psychological functions and core body temperature were investigated in a series of studies involving a total of 24 highly practised young women who lived in a controlled environment and on a strictly regimented 24-hour routine for 6 or 7 days. Ten participants were exposed to the natural light/dark cycle (L/Dc) through windows, whereas the 14 remaining participants saw no daylight, but all had access to normal clock time. A battery of mood and performance tests was completed every 2 hours whilst awake (08:00-00:00), resulting in nine equally spaced measures per waking day. Average time of day (ToD) functions were calculated from the last 5 or 6 days spent in the controlled environment. Significant ToD effects were found for many of the variables taken although the nature of these effects differed across measures, with a 'post-lunch dip' being observed at 16:00 in some variables. Analysis of the standardized data established that all variables presented reliably different ToD functions to core body temperature, whilst factor analyses indicated possible relationships between the variables. It was concluded that those variables that exhibited diurnal variation showed trends that did not parallel those in core body temperature.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Rushed, unhappy, and drained: an experience sampling study of relations between time pressure, perceived control, mood, and emotional exhaustion in a group of accountants.

Experience sampling methodology was used to examine how work demands translate into acute changes in affective response and thence into chronic response. Seven accountants reported their reactions 3 times a day for 4 weeks on pocket computers. Aggregated analysis showed that mood and emotional exhaustion fluctuated in parallel with time pressure over time. Disaggregated time-series analysis confirmed the direct impact of high-demand periods on the perception of control, time pressure, and mood and the indirect impact on emotional exhaustion. A curvilinear relationship between time pressure and emotional exhaustion was shown. The relationships between work demands and emotional exhaustion changed between high-demand periods and normal working periods. The results suggest that enhancing perceived control may alleviate the negative effects of time pressure.

Accounting↗
PubMed1999

A process model of shiftwork and health.

The authors developed and tested a process model of adaptation to shiftwork, which hypothesizes that various individual and situational variables influence the development of sleep and social and domestic disturbances. Both types of disturbances trigger various types of coping behavior, leading to several proximal outcomes. The end result is the development of chronic health problems in the form of digestive and cardiovascular symptoms. The model was tested with survey data collected from 2 samples of nurses (N = 1,532) in the United Kingdom and was cross-validated against a 3rd sample of industrial workers (N = 370). Results indicate support for the model across the 3 samples, although some sample-specific and subgroup effects were found. Results have direct implications for the development of shiftwork theory and interventions.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1999

Use and effectiveness of self-regulation strategies for improving mood in a group of trainee teachers.

A field study investigated the ongoing use and effectiveness of self-regulation strategies for improving mood and the effects of a mood-regulation intervention. Thirty trainee teachers used pocket computers to complete ratings of their mood and their use of mood-regulation strategies every 2 hr during 2 weeks of a school placement. Cognitive distraction was the most frequently used strategy, but behavioral diversion and cognitive reappraisal were associated with the greatest improvements in reported mood. Neither avoidance nor venting was associated with mood improvements. Concurrent mood, mood awareness, and activity predicted the use of different regulation strategies. Half of the participants were instructed to use engagement strategies and the other half diversion strategies during the middle 6 days of the study. The engagement group reported significantly higher levels of cheerfulness during this intervention.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

Diurnal trends in mood and performance do not all parallel alertness.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the hypothesis that alertness can be used to predict time-of-day effects on performance. METHODS: For 6 or 7 days the volunteers (24, highly practiced young women) were required to retire to bed at 0000 and were awakened at 0800. A battery of mood and performance tests was completed every 2 hours while the women were awake; the result was 9 equally spaced measures per day. Measures of mood, serial reaction time, and memory scanning were recorded. Rectal temperature was recorded continuously. RESULTS: After omitting the data from the first day to avoid any carry-over from the "first-night" effect on sleep, average time-of-day functions were calculated for each subject, for each variable, and were then z-transformed. Cross-correlations between the pooled time-of-day trends indicated that, while alertness was a reasonably good "predictor" of the simple perceptual-motor speed measures, it fared less well for some of the other measures. Two-way analyses of variance indicated that the time-of-day trend for all measures differed from that for alertness, although the magnitude of this difference varied substantially and, for some measures, was very largely due to the last reading of the day (0000). CONCLUSION: It is clear from these results that, while alertness may successfully "predict" variations in some measures of performance capability, and especially those of simple perceptual motor speed, care should be exercised in extrapolating to other performance measures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Complex interaction of the sleep-wake cycle and circadian phase modulates mood in healthy subjects.

BACKGROUND: Several studies of healthy volunteers have revealed that subjective mood may vary with the duration of prior wakefulness and with the time of day. However, in these studies, the effects of extended wakefulness and circadian phase remained confounded, and the interaction of these 2 processes could not be assessed quantitatively. METHODS: In the present study, a total of 24 healthy young subjects (16 men, 8 women) lived on a 30-hour sleep-wake schedule for 19 to 23 days or on a 28-hour sleep-wake schedule for 33 to 36 days; both schedules induced desynchrony between the subjects' sleep-wake cycle and their endogenous circadian pacemaker. Subjective mood was assessed by 2 types of visual analog scales, which were administered twice every 2 hours and every 20 minutes, respectively, during all scheduled wakefulness episodes. A circadian phase and an interval elapsed since awakening were attributed to each data point, and circadian and wake-dependent fluctuations of mood were assessed. RESULTS: A significant variation of mood with circadian phase was observed, but no reliable main effect of the duration of prior wakefulness was found. A statistically significant interaction of circadian and wake-dependent fluctuations was evident; when the analysis was restricted to specific circadian phases, mood improved, deteriorated, or remained stable with the duration of prior wakefulness. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that, in healthy young subjects, subjective mood is influenced by a complex and nonadditive interaction of circadian phase and duration of prior wakefulness. The nature of this interaction is such that moderate changes in the timing of the sleep-wake cycle may have profound effects on subsequent mood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Recovery from work shifts: how long does it take?

Although regulations on work hours usually include a minimum weekly rest period, there is little empirical evidence concerning recovery from work. Shift-working nurses (N = 61) used a handheld computer for 28 days to complete self-ratings, cognitive-performance tasks, and a sleep diary. Many measures were worse on rest days that followed a night shift rather than a day shift and tended to be worse on first rest days compared with subsequent rest days. Alertness was lowest on the 1st rest day following a night shift. Social satisfaction was better on workdays that were preceded by 2 rather than 1 rest day. Reaction time decreased over consecutive night shifts and tended to increase over rest days following night shifts. The results are interpreted as being consistent with the combined adaptive costs of fatigue and adjustment to and from a nocturnal routine. The practical implications for scheduling rest days are considered.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The effects of nightwork on psychological changes during the menstrual cycle.

This study investigated whether the temporal stress of working at night interferes with nurses' experience of different phases of the menstrual cycle. Twenty-four, rotating-shift nurses recorded data on a hand-held computer at the start and end of each day and every 2 hours during their shifts for a period of 28 days. The measures included a sleep diary, self-ratings of mood and symptoms, and two cognitive performance tasks. Using a pooled time series analysis, it was found that some of the self-report measures showed a significant interaction between type of shift worked and menstrual cycle phase. For example, alertness was found to be lower towards the end of the night shift during the premenstrual phase compared to other phase and shift combinations. However, some of the measures showed only main effects of cycle phase or were non-significant. Retrospective measures from a larger sample showed an association between the number of nights worked per year and duration of premenstrual and menstrual problems, and severity of premenstrual problems. The results suggest that nightwork may alter some aspects of nurses' psychological experience of the menstrual cycle.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The use of survey measures to assess circadian variations in alertness.

Current models of sleep regulation postulate both a homeostatic and circadian component and promise an understanding of disturbed and displaced sleep. Estimates of these components have traditionally required relatively cumbersome and costly measures, including sleep electroencephalograms and continuously recorded rectal temperature, but it has recently been demonstrated that they may successfully be based on frequent (e.g. 2-hourly) concurrent ratings of alertness. This paper examines whether similar results might be obtained using retrospective survey measures of alertness obtained from shiftworking nurses at a single sitting. These retrospective measures are shown to be sensitive to both time of day and shift, to have a high level of reliability even for relatively small sample sizes (e.g. 10) and to be valid predictors of more traditional concurrent measures of alertness. It is concluded that retrospective alertness ratings may prove to be an extremely cost-effective method for examining the trends in alertness in various groups, including those suffering from specific types of sleep disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Associations of sleep with everyday mood, minor symptoms and social interaction experience.

Although there are strong popular beliefs about the value of a good night's sleep, there is very little documented evidence of day-to-day relations between sleep and well-being. In this study, covariations between sleep and both prior and subsequent daily states of well-being were studied in a healthy, employed sample. Thirty volunteers used pocket computers to complete a daily sleep diary and self-rating scales of mood, minor symptoms and social interaction experience. These were recorded every 2 hours for 14 days except during sleep periods. A pooled regression analysis showed small but significant relationships between many of the sleep and well-being measures. Sleep appeared to be more strongly related to subsequent well-being than prior well-being. An earlier onset of sleep was associated with better mood and social interaction experience the following day and was a better predictor than sleep duration. This result was interpreted to be consistent with the phase angle model of chronobiologic mood disorders. In general, the results suggest that the sleep disturbances found in affective disorders may not be pathological but instead represent the extremes of normal relationships between sleep and well-being.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The relationship between coping strategies and GHQ-scores in nurses.

This paper discusses the development of a situation specific questionnaire for measuring coping with shiftwork. Previously, no standardized measure appears to have been developed, even though coping behaviour is considered to be an important factor in determining tolerance to shiftwork. The results from this study indicated that the present questionnaire may have some potential. Its psychometric qualities were relatively good. Coping scores were related to psychological health, measured by GHQ-12. Analysis of variance showed a main effect of only one of the subscales (disengagement strategies) on GHQ and also a reliable interaction between disengagement and engagement on GHQ-scores. Further research into the effect of coping strategies on shiftwork tolerance is suggested.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dissecting circadian performance rhythms: implications for shiftwork.

Safety on shift systems will depend, at least in part, on the adjustment of shiftworkers' circadian (c.24h) rhythms in performance capabilities which will in turn depend on their underlying control. In the present study three volunteers lived on a 30h 'day' and performed a range of tasks every 2h (while awake) to allow estimates of the relative magnitude of the endogenous (body clock) and exogenous (masking) components of their rhythms to be made. Performance rhythms were found to differ considerably in this respect with, for example, speed on a 4-choice serial reaction time task appearing to be largely endogenously determined while that on a 5-target Sternberg task was more dependent on exogenous (i.e., 30h) factors. This implies that performance measures may adjust at very different rates to one another to night work, and hence that the optimal form of shift system may vary according to the precise demands of the shiftworker's task.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Is there an optimum number of night shifts? Relationship between sleep, health and well-being.

By concentrating on the impact of a specific shift-system feature on the well-being of those concerned, rather than on the impact of the shift system as a whole, one might be able to offer more meaningful suggestions as to what constitutes a better form of shift system. The present study focused on the impact of the number of consecutive night shifts worked on the health and well-being of two groups of nurses (permanent night and rotating shift). All nurses completed a copy of the Standard Shiftwork Index, which is a set of questionnaires designed for comparing the effects of different types of shift system on large groups of workers. It includes measurements of psychological ill-health, physical ill-health, chronic fatigue, social and domestic disruption, attitudes towards shiftwork, sleep quality and sleep habits. Results showed clearly the impact of the number of consecutive nights worked on health and well-being, not directly, but indirectly through the impact on sleep duration and sleep quality. Sleep duration was shown to increase with more consecutive nights worked. This in turn was found to predict sleep quality, which in turn was found to be the stronger direct predictor of psychological and physical ill-health i.e. better health was associated with longer and better quality sleeps. Explanations in terms of circadian adaptation are discussed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A 14-h night-shift in the control room of a fire brigade.

All 29 operators in the control room of a fire brigade performed test sessions during work and leisure time at 2-h intervals on a day with a 14-h night-shift, a day off and a day with a 10-h morning shift. The test sessions consisted of a visual search choice reaction time test and two Sternberg memory search tests (1 or 5 letters had to be memorized). Furthermore, the operators recorded their oral temperature and their subjective alertness before each test session. The subject also kept a diary of work and sleep times for 14 days. The circadian rhythm of body temperature was hardly changed by a single night-shift. Parallel to the body temperature, the subjective alertness fell significantly during the night-shift reaching a minimum value at 06:00 h. The mean reaction times increased non-significantly at the end of the night-shift and the results of the two Sternberg memory search tests showed no significant trends. The sleep of the operators after the night-shift was on average reduced to 5 hs 34 min. The results of subjective rating of alertness and reaction time test are interpreted as effects of the combined influences of circadian rhythmicity, sleep loss and time on professional task. Most results support the conclusion that a 14-h night-shift without extensive breaks is not acceptable.

Adult↗