Sleep patterns of teachers and adolescents who attend school in the morning

Abstract

Late sleeping times characteristic of adolescence, when associated with the morning shift for school, reduce sleep duration on school days and increase sleep–wake cycle (SWC) irregularity. Furthermore, teachers start work in the morning and finish at night, in addition to working at home. In order to compare SWC patterns, daytime sleepiness and sleep quality, 165 adolescents and 55 secondary school teachers completed a “Health and Sleep” questionnaire and a sleep diary for seven days. The results showed that both woke up earlier during the week (class start time: about 7:15 h), and this was associated with less time spent in bed, worse sleep quality and increased daytime sleepiness. These parameters improved during the weekends, albeit less in teachers. Therefore, it is suggested that class time starting in the morning have a negative effect on teachers as well as to their adolescent students, reinforcing the need for changes in the start time of morning school.

Keywords:

• sleep–wake cycle
• adolescents
• teachers
• school schedules
• sleepiness
• sleep quality

Acknowledgments

Special thanks are given to the adolescents and teachers who participated in this research and school members. We also thank the financial support from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte.