090 Strategies for Dealing with or Ameliorating Excessive Sleepiness: Beliefs and Attitudes of People with Daytime Sleepiness
Authors: Featherston Breanna , Kapoor Ashna , Wills Chloe , Tubbs Andrew , Grandner Michael 
Published: May 2021

Abstract

Introduction
Sleepiness impacts health and functioning, but despite available treatments, many do not seek care. Beliefs and attitudes about treatments for sleepiness and other sleep problems may be useful to know in designing and targeting interventions.

Methods
N=28 participants with excessive daytime sleepiness (ESS&gt;=10) but no other major medical problems were recruited from the community. They were administered an Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Fatigue Severity Scale at baseline, and asked about a wide range of beliefs/attitudes about mitigating sleepiness, and whether they Strongly Agree(SA), Agree(A), Disagree(D), or Strongly Disagree(SD) with them. Ordinal logistic regressions examined agreement associated with baseline sleepiness and fatigue, adjusted for age, sex, and race/ethnicity (nominal significance p&lt;0.05).

Results
When asked which strategies are helpful for dealing with or fixing daytime sleepiness, baseline agreement was as follows: Just “power through it” (SA:9%,A:55%,D:32%,SD:5%). Caffeine (SA:18%,A:55%,D:27%). Vigorous exercise (SA:9%,A:36%,D:55%). Mild or moderate movement or exercise (SA:14%,A:82%,D:5%). Trying to get better sleep at night (SA:36%,A:64%). Eating or drinking something to help “wake you up” (SA:27%,A:45%,D:23%,SD:5%). Napping (SA:27%,A:64%,D:9%). Giving up and letting yourself be sleepy (SA:9%,A:42%,D:45%,SD:5%). Improve your diet/eat healthy (SA:42%,A:55%,D:5%). Relaxing activities at night (SA:27%,A:68%,D:5%). Meditation, breathing exercises, or other relaxation techniques (SA:45%,A:45%,D:9%). Watching TV, browsing the internet, or other distracting activities (SA:5%,A:36%,D:45%,SD:14%). Just keep moving (SA:9%,A:55%,D:42%,SD:5%). Setting alarms (SA:18%,A:68%,D:14%). Take prescription medication to improve sleep (SA:5%,A:27%,D:42%,SD:27%). Take over-the-counter medication to improve sleep (SA:5%,A:27%,D:59%,SD:9%). Take prescription stimulant medication (SA:5%,A:32%,D:45%,SD:18). Take over-the-counter stimulant medication (SA:5%,A:27%,D:55%,SD:14%). Take prescription medication that reduces daytime sleepiness (SA:5%,A:36%,D:41%,SD:18%). Take over-the-counter medication that reduces daytime sleepiness (SA:5%,A:27%,D:50%,SD:18%). Those with higher levels of baseline sleepiness were more likely to endorse the following as good strategies to handle daytime sleepiness, “Take over-the-counter medication to improve sleep” (oOR=1.55, p=0.04), “Take prescription medication to improve sleep” (oOR=1.49, p=0.01), and “napping” (oOR=2.55, p=0.03). Those with higher baseline fatigue were less likely to endorse “just ‘powering_through’” (oOR=0.81, p=0.02) as a good strategy of handling daytime sleepiness.

Conclusion
Real-world beliefs and attitudes about ways of mitigating effects of sleepiness range from medical to behavioral. Those with greater baseline sleepiness may be more amenable to medication.

Support (if any)
This work was supported by Jazz Pharmaceuticals