Survey the Sleep quality in agricultural tractors drivers in different climatic conditions

Among agricultural activities, working and driving with farm tractors in different weather conditions lead to fatigue and burnout. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sleep quality of farm tractors drivers in different weather conditions.

From tractors drivers in Behbahan, Eqlid, and Kavar, 90 participants (Kavar: 27; Eqlid: 33; Behbahan: 30) were selected. The required data was gathered via demographic characteristics questionnaire and standard questionnaire Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We used SPSS version 18, Kruskal-Wallis and Post-hoc pairwise comparison tests to analyze the data (α= 0.05).

The results showed that there are no significant differences in sleep quality and sleep quality parameters between different region tractors drivers (p > 0.05); but there are significant differences in sleep mental quality (p = 0.001), delays in falling asleep (p = 0.02), go to sleep duration (p= 0.04) and between Kavar and Behbehan, and also there are significant differences in go to sleep duration (p= 0.04) between Kavar and Eqlid.

Working in critical cold weather (like nights in Eqlid) or critical hot weather (like noon in Behbahan) should be strongly forbidden with a suitable working schedule, especially while working with tractors without a driver’s cabin. Drivers’ cabins reserve drivers against temperature, wind and dust, and, therefore increase their comfort and sleep quality.