Qualidade do sono e sonolência excessiva entre estudantes de medicina

Introduction: The demands of the academic life of medical students can alter their quality of life, mainly due to the heavy course load. Understanding the importance of sleep and its impact on the students lives’ quality, we emphasize the importance of measuring this parameter. Objective: To evaluate the perception of medical students on the quality of their own sleep and the degree of excessive daytime sleepiness, comparing the different stages of the course. Method: This is a cross-sectional and analytical study with 234 students from the 1st to the 6th year of the undergraduate medical course of a university in the region of the alto sertao paraibano. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale were used for measurement. Both questionnaires are validated for use in Brazil. Results: The mean sleep duration in the overall sample was 6.92 hours. Of the 234 respondents, 64.5% (n = 149) had poor sleep quality or a sleep disorder and at least 21% reported using sleeping pills. Most of the participants reported a sleep duration of 7 hours or less (58.6%). The analysis of the data obtained by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale showed that 55.55% (n = 130) of the students had excessive daytime sleepiness that should be investigated. Conclusion: It was observed that most medical students had sleep deprivation, which was associated with excessive sleepiness and poor sleep quality, indicating the need for preventive actions in this regard. The results point to the relevance of investing in efforts to correct this trend. It is necessary to implement health promotion measures for higher education students.