Sleep Disruption and Circadian Misalignment in a Rural Himalayan Community of Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract: Sleep disruption and circadian misalignment are increasingly recognised as important public health concerns due to their established associations with impaired daytime functioning, metabolic dysregulation, and adverse mental health outcomes. Although these disturbances have been widely investigated in urban and occupational populations, empirical evidence from rural Himalayan settings remains limited. The present community-based cross-sectional study aimed to estimate the prevalence of sleep disruption and circadian misalignment among adults in a rural Himalayan village and to examine their association with lifestyle-related factors, with particular emphasis on evening tea consumption as the principal source of caffeine and pre-sleep electronic device use. The study was conducted among 100 adults (≥18 years) residing in Gamru village, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India, using a structured questionnaire that assessed sleep duration, weekday-weekend variation in sleep timing (social jetlag), electronic device use before bedtime, evening tea intake, and sleep-related disturbances. Descriptive statistics were generated, and associations were examined using chi-square or Fisher's exact tests, with statistical significance set at p

Keywords: Sleep disruption; Circadian misalignment; Social jetlag; Tea consumption; Sleep-wake cycle; Rural health; Lifestyle factors