Objective: To assess the length and quality of sleep among shift workers at Bahir Dar textile mill.
Design: A cross sectional study using structured questionnaire that contained sociodemographic variables, duration of work, work schedule, number of sleeping hours, sleep disorders, and associated reasons for such disorders.
Setting: A textile mill in Bahir Dar, northwest Ethiopia.
Subjects: Three-hundred ninety four random sample of production workers of the mill.
Outcome measures: Sleep disorders, and the impact of external and home environment on sleep.
Results: The mean duration of work in the factory was 25.4 +/- 7.1 years. Ninety-seven per cent of the study population work in a rotating eight hourly shift system. The mean number of hours a worker sleeps after a worked shift was 5.1 +/- 2.3. Two hundred thirty (58.4%) claimed to experience a sleep disorder. Sleep disturbance was significantly associated with rotating shift work, external environmental noise, and working in the spinning department.
Conclusion: The majority of the workers in Bahir Dar textile mill experienced sleep disturbances as detailed in the study methodology.