Abstract
Sleep is a vital element of adolescents’ overall health; it influences their body and mind and thus affects their quality of life. Adequate sleep quality and duration are essential for maintaining optimal metabolic health and lowering the risk of developing several medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease. The current study aimed to assess the perceived sleep quality and duration of 1717 European adolescents from three different European countries (Spain, Iceland and Estonia) aged 13- to 16-years (900 boys, 817 girls) using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to examine differences between groups and two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze city and age differences. The probability of having poor sleep quality and duration was calculated by Odd-Ratio (OR). Our study found poor sleep quality in 44% of the boys and 53% of the girls, whereas 68% and 69%, respectively did not get the recommended hours of sleep (i.e., 8–10 h). No difference was found between adolescents from Estonia, Iceland and Spain regarding sleep duration. In contrast, Spanish and Estonian adolescents reported higher probabilities of having poor sleep quality. Finally, girls had a significantly higher probability of poor sleep quality than boys.
Highlights
Sleep is a recurrent phase, characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity and the inhibition of voluntary muscle activation, as well as impaired consciousness (REM phase) [1]
The analysis of the participants that slept less than the recommended hours (8–10 h) revealed no statistical differences in the adolescents groups based in different countries (p = 0.095), with 67% in adolescents in Seville (615/917), 67% in Reykjavik (258/387) and
The current study showed that most of the adolescent participants had poor sleep quality, as they did not meet the recommended sleep duration per night for their age group
Summary
Sleep is a recurrent phase, characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity and the inhibition of voluntary muscle activation, as well as impaired consciousness (REM phase) [1]. Optimal quality and duration of sleep are essential for appropriate development and physical growth in children and adolescents [2]. Insufficient duration and low quality of sleep in early life are related to poor cognitive function and reduced academic performance with low attention and daytime concentration [3,4], as well as depressive symptoms [5]. Good sleep quality is known to be essential for maintaining correct metabolic health and lower cardiovascular disease risk [8]. Sufficient duration and good quality of sleep are directly related to a regular body composition index, less depressive symptoms and better sports performance [9]
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