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Effects of School Schedule Transition onSleep-Wake Cycle of Brazilian Adolescents
Luciana Mello, M.D., Fernando Louzada, M.D., and Luiz Menna-Barreto, M.D.
The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of school schedule transition (from
afternoon to morning schedule)on sleep-wake cycle and diurnal sleepiness in
adolescents.Subjects consisted of 28 school children (12 boys and 16 girls,mean age
12.1 �1.9 years)investigated on two occasions,during two consecutive weeks in
October/1997 (fourth grade -afternoon schedule)and in May/1998 (fifth grade -morning
schedule).Data were collected through actigraphs,sleep diaries,sleep habits
questionnaires and visual analog scales.Results indicate that students are partially sleep
deprived after the transition to the morning schedule although they are able -to some
extent -to advance their sleep phase during school days and weekends.Diurnal sleepiness
increases in the morning schedule,particularly at the beginning of the schooldays.
Number of daytime naps increases and the number of spontaneous awakenings
decreases after the transition.Since the primary focus of education is to improve learning
conditions and maximize students'potentialities,school organization should take into
account not only space and social aspects of school,but also temporal aspects of
human biological organization,specially at this particular age.These temporal aspects
seem to be particularly relevant when school schedule changes are envisaged.(Sleep
and Hypnosis 2001;3(3):106-111)
| Keywords: sleep-wake cycle, diurnal sleepiness, sleep deprivation, adolescents, school schedule, sleep-wake cycle phase delay |
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