Sono e saúde mental na adolescência.

Abstract

Adolescents with an altered sleep routine have a higher incidence of problems related to low academic performance and a greater possibility of disorders that affect mental health. This research-intervention with a quantitative-qualitative approach aimed to understand how sleep influences mental health and what are the most frequent sleep related difficulties in adolescents, especially in the school environment. This work is divided into 03 (three) parts; the first brings a review of the literature on the subject in the Scielo and PubMed databases with a temporal scope between 2015 and 2021. The second part describes the research/intervention carried out with the following steps: data collection with 70 (seventy) adolescents in school age, through an online questionnaire and two focus groups: one with 06 (six) mental health/education professionals and the other with 12 (twelve) parents/guardians of adolescents, aiming to identify the signs and symptoms resulting from sleep disorders more common in this age group. As a result: in the literature review, we found a scarcity of studies and instruments to assess the quality of sleep for Brazilian adolescents; however, the answers to the questionnaires show similar data to international studies, that is, most adolescents sleep less than recommended by the WHO, and they report changes in school activities, such as: inattention and daytime sleepiness, in addition to irritability, fears, agitation and physical symptoms. In this context, we can highlight that sleep directly interferes with the quality of life of young people, triggering losses in the school and social environment, modifying the rhythm of studies and also changing their daily routine. The narratives of the focus groups confirm the data from the questionnaires applied to adolescents and also the information found in the literature, revealing that poor sleep quality interferes with social and academic activities harmfully. This information contributed to the elaboration of the technical production, an instrument for professional use to analyze sleep quality and its relationship with mental health. Thus, we affirm that sleep contributes to mental health in adolescence and represents an important factor in healthy development. Considering the data collected, it is concluded that interventions and early assessments of sleep disorders are necessary to qualify mental health throughout life, ensure well-being and development in adolescence, in addition to mitigating learning problems. Therefore, we emphasize the need to build strategies around the importance of sleep quality and its implications for the mental health of young Brazilian students.