Sleep quality of a sample of the adolescent population in Bariloche, Argentina

ANDRÉS H. CALDERÓN; D. LORENA FRANCO; PABLO M. GLEISER; SEBASTIAN RISAU; FERNANDA R. ROMÁN; GUADALUPE CASCALLARES; MARCELA S. NADAL; SERGIO LINDENBAUM; YIMY AMARILLO; DAMIÁN DELLAVALE; MARA LÓPEZ-WORTZMAN; ROMINA A. CAPELLINO; SABRINA RIVA

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XXXII Congreso Anual SAN 2017; 2017

Sociedad Argentina de neurociencia

Sleep disorders can be a negative factor both for learning as for the mental and physicaldevelopment of adolescents. Thus, it is important for Public Health to assess the quality ofadolescent sleep. We have conducted a study in the city of Bariloche, aimed at measuring thesleep quality of an adolescent population, as part of the activities of the Semana del Cerebro(March, 2017), the local version of the Brain Awareness Week. We used the Pittsburgh SleepQuality Index (PSQI), obtained from a questionnaire administered individually to groups ofsecondary students. Some adults (visitors and teachers) were also given the questionnaire,thus providing a small adult sample. Participants were 523 adolescents (age 15?19) and 204adults (age 20-69). The results show that sleep quality is consistently worse for women thanfor men, in all age groups, and is worse for adolescents than for adults. The most importantcomponent to explain this is sleep dysfunction (i.e. daytime sleepiness). As there is nosignificant difference between the number of hours slept, this shows that adolescents shouldsleep more than adults (on average). In men, there is also a significant difference in sleeplatency, which measures how fast the individual gets asleep. The difference betweenadolescent men and women is mainly due to greater sleep dysfunctions in women. We alsofound that sleep disturbances (?bad dreams?) are more frequently reported by women andhaveanegativecorrelationwithPSQI.