Investigation of the influences of sleep and exercise on the mental health of medical students and junior residents

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K01753
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Applied health science
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Principal Investigator: Hirai Nobuhide 東京医科歯科大学, 学生支援・保健管理機構, 准教授 (90333369)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 久保 位可子 東京医科歯科大学, 職員健康管理室, 臨床心理士 (40736394)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 医学生 / 研修医 / メンタルヘルス / 睡眠 / 食事 / 運動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It has been reported that the period from becoming a student to a working adult is a period of increasing mental health problems, and about one-quarter of the resident physicians are newly depressed within two months after the start of residential training. It could be expected that changes in daily life had an impact on their mental health. Therefore, we investigated the changes in daily life from the time before becoming a trainee until the start of training using wearable devices. We also investigated the relationship with mental health using a web questionnaire. As a result, there were significant changes in sleep and diet in the 4 months before and 4 months after the start of the training, but there was no significant difference in the scores of exercise and mental health.

Free Research Field

精神医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

わが国の医学生は医師になると殆ど全員が臨床研修医となるが、研修開始後の2か月で約4分の1の研修医が抑うつ状態になると報告されている。毎月のように職場を異動し、日常生活が変化することが影響していることは想像に難くないが、その変化が研修医のメンタルヘルスに与える影響については驚くほど研究が少ない。本研究は、彼らがメンタルヘルス不調を生じる背景となっている日常生活上の変化を調査し、臨床研修医のメンタルヘルス不調との関連を見出すことを目指した。その結果、特に睡眠と食事摂取に有意な変化がみられることを見出した。本研究の結果から、食生活への介入がメンタルヘルスの改善に有効である可能性が考えられた。