Neurocognitive Game between Risk Factors, Sleep and Suicidal Behaviour

Insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, anxiety, depression and socioeconomic status among customer service employees in Canada

OBJECTIVE

It is the first study investigating deeply symptoms of neuropsychiatric diseases among a large population of customer service employees (n=1238, 640 females and 598 males). The study's goals were document presence of sleep disorders, anxiety and depression among customer service advisors and determine the influence of the socioeconomic status (pSES), duration in position and full-time or part-time shift on the diseases above.

METHODS

Linear regressions and ANOVA with a Tukey multiple comparisons of means was performed to analyze correlation and differences between citizens, international students and immigrants in their pSES and neuropsychiatric diseases.

RESULTS

Customer service employees (578 Canadians, 264 immigrants and 358 international students) are in majority undergraduate students (286 men and 289 females) with a high school degree (280 men and 308 women). They work full-time (560 men and 548 women) and are single (420 men and 560 women). Among customer service advisors, the time spent as an advisor was an excellent predictor of insomnia, sleepiness and anxiety (respectively with R2=91,83%, R2=81,23% and R2=87,46%) but a moderate predictor of depression (R2=69,14%). The pSES was a moderate predictor of sleep disorders (respectively R2=62,04% for insomnia and R2=53,62% for sleepiness) and strongly associated with anxiety and depression (R2=82,95% for anxiety and R2=89,77% for depression).

DISCUSSION

Insomnia, sleepiness and anxiety are more prevalent for full-time employees (higher for immigrants and international students compared to Canadians) compared with part-time employees, while depression was similarly higher for Canadian and immigrants compared to international students. Regarding full-time employees, symptoms of insomnia, anxiety and depression were higher for men compared to women. Regarding part-time employees, symptoms of insomnia and sleepiness were higher for women compared to men. Employees working full-time with rotating shifts are more exposed to insomnia, sleepiness and anxiety than employees working part-time. More research is needed to understand mental health of customer service employees regardless of their area and it is worthy of interest to study the link between sleep disorders and mood disorders with work conditions. Here some practical suggestions are made to reduce neuropsychiatric disorders for customer service employees or to at least mitigate the work burden on their brains.

Visual dot interaction with short-term memory

Aim: Many neurodegenerative diseases have a memory component. Brain structures related to memory are affected by environmental stimuli, and it is difficult to dissociate effects of all behavior of neurons. Materials & methods: Here, visual cortex of mice was stimulated with gratings and dot, and an observation of neuronal activity before and after was made. Bandwidth, firing rate and orientation selectivity index were evaluated. Results: A primary communication between primary visual cortex and short-term memory appeared to show an interesting path to train cognitive circuitry and investigate the basics mechanisms of the neuronal learning. The findings also suggested the interplay between primary visual cortex and short-term plasticity. Conclusion: The properties inside a visual target shape the perception and affect the basic encoding. Using visual cortex, it may be possible to train the memory and improve the recovery of people with cognitive disabilities or memory deficit.