Sleep and rest patterns in female students of the health area

Abstract

Introduction: sleep and rest are important for health, sleep deprivation and rest have led to alterations in the well-being of university students who experience changes in their life routines, related to academic demands, study schedules, role fulfillment, among others. The approach to sleep and rest in university students allows the generation of empirical information for decision-making by university authorities and, as nursing professionals, guides the design of interventions for the well-being of this population. Objective: to characterize the sleep and rest pattern of university students in the health area. Methodology: a descriptive cross-sectional study, 119 women selected by simple random sampling participated, enrolled in a program in the health area and who signed the informed consent. An exprofessional instrument designed based on the defining characteristics of the NANDA 2018-2020 category for the diagnosis of disturbed sleep pattern was applied. Descriptive and inferential statistics were obtained for the analysis. Results: on the sociodemographic characteristics 94.1% referred to being single, 5% reported having children, 66.4% were in the fourth year of the nursing career.  Regarding the sleep and rest pattern, 12.6% feel rested, 63% wake up during the night, 55.5% take time to fall asleep and 43.7% sleep less than eight hours, because of the lack of hours of sleep they report anxiety (46.2%), lethargy (50.4%), aggression (38.7%). Conclusion: the students have an altered sleep and rest pattern.