Sleep is essential for physical and mental health

The Brazilian Sleep Association promotes Sleep Week from March 13 to 19, with hundreds of activities and dissemination of recent studies on the subject A good diet and exercise are essential for the health of the body and mind. But each year new research highlights the importance of a third element in this "formula" for well-being: sleep. Sleeping well is essential, and sleep quality is an increasingly studied subject in science. However, despite seeming simple, the study "Sleep quality in the general Brazilian population: a cross-sectional study," published in 2022, which involved members of the board of the Brazilian Sleep Association (ABS) and the Brazilian Sleep Medicine Association (ABMS) - points out that two out of three people have some degree of sleep impairment, meaning that it is not restorative as it should be and brings feelings of fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and low productivity. Cardiologist Luciano Drager, president of ABS, explains that the failure to recognize sleep disorders is unfortunately still very common in our population. "Many people remain without an appropriate diagnosis for various sleep disorders. In fact, many times, people think that snoring, for example, is something 'normal.' And we see the multiple consequences on quality of life, performance the next day, memory, work, and education," says Dr. Luciano. To help the population clarify doubts and provide important information to everyone, a major global awareness movement about the importance of sleep for health takes place every March. This year, World Sleep Day will be celebrated on March 17. In Brazil, ABS will promote Sleep Week - March 13 to 19 - with the theme "Sleep is essential for health." Hundreds of in-person and online activities will be held - panels, research, studies, clinical trials - available on this site. "Our purpose is to raise awareness among the population about the importance of sleep through daily events and themes entirely focused on sleep care. Last year, we had the participation not only of health professionals but also of athletes, artists, and communicators who helped us bring knowledge to people through social media, which is very important for the topic to be addressed in a simple way and with a language that can be understood by the population," explains Dr. Márcia Assis, vice president of ABS. For the president of the Brazilian Sleep Association – Regional ES (ABS-ES), Sleep Medicine Specialist Jessica Polese, sleep contributes to one of the factors closely linked to the preservation of mental health. "Sleep disorders can cause vulnerability to viral infections, to inflammatory oxidative/antioxidant imbalance, to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity, among others," says Jessica. When we sleep, the brain strengthens positive emotions and weakens negative ones. The doctor emphasizes that psychiatric and sleep problems directly affect well-being and productivity, resulting in significant individual and collective losses. To combat this and maintain good mental health, it is ideal to maintain sleep hygiene," she highlights.