Influence of stress on sleep quality in the community's elderly

• Grant number: 20/01503-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2020
• End date: September 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nursing
• Principal Investigator: Keika Inouye
• Grantee: Pedro Henrique Machado Guiesi
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Sleep is an essential vital function that has a repairing and regulating action on organic systems. Therefore, it is important for the individual's physical and mental health. Several studies indicate that sleep is negatively modified with aging. Stress is a natural reaction of the body due to exposure to adverse stimuli. This mechanism leads to a state of alarm, resistance and exhaustion with physical and emotional changes. It is a variable that, like aging, can bring about changes in sleep patterns. Thus, the present study aims to identify an association between stress and quality of sleep in the elderly in the community. It is a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional research. The sample will consist of elderly people registered in Family Health Units in the city of São Carlos, São Paulo. Data collection will be carried out through interviews with the application of a socio-demographic and health questionnaire (this will include the use of sleeping medications, physical activity, weekly physical activity time, period of activities and comorbidities), Depression Scale Geriatric (GDS-15), Perceived Stress Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The data obtained will be typed in a bank in the program Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows to carry out descriptive and comparative statistical analyzes. All stages of this work followed the ethical guidelines of scientific research involving human beings.