Dados do Trabalho

Título

A PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF SLEEP AND MEMORY QUALITY AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS AT AN AMAZONAS UNIVERSITY FROM THE GLYMPHATIC HYPOTHESIS

Resumo

Introduction: With the glymphatic system discovery, responsible for 'cleaning' toxic waste from nervous tissue during sleep, the emergence of neurodegenerative diseases related to memory from a dysfunction in this system has been discussed. Objective: The goal was to evaluate the correlation between sleep quality and memory in medical students at an Amazonas university during a semester, and to observe how other factors (like the pandemic) could interfere in this process. Method: This was a prospective observational study approved by the Ethics Committee in 2021 under statement of No. 4.978.487, with the exclusion criterion being that students under the age of 18 could not participate. It was conducted using the Mini-Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ) to assess sleep quality, Epworth Sleepiness Questionnaire to assess the degree of daytime sleepiness, Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ-10) to assess retrospective and prospective memory, with the following cut-off points 25, 10 and 20 respectively, and a self-reported sleep diary for two weeks. Results: A total of 132 academics were included, 77 (58,38%) female and 55 (41,67%) male, the means (standard deviations) obtained from the PRMQ-10, MSQ and Epworth tests were 26,44 (6,43); 32,34 (8,88) and 10,58 (4,14) respectively. From the sample, 59 students were able to complete the sleep diary during the requested time: the total sleep mean was 6,84 hours (0,78). A high degree of memory failure complaints were evidenced in 114 participants (86.36%), excessive daytime sleepiness in 74 (56.06%) and sleep alterations in 114 (86.36%), and significant correlations at p<0.05 level between anxiety and depressed states at the time of data collection; anxiety and worsening memory failure complaints during the pandemic period and worsening sleep and memory complaints during the pandemic; between PRMQ-10 memory failure complaints and MSQ sleep changes, and between the amount of sleep and better results on the PRMQ-10. Conclusion: Sleeping changes, daytime sleepiness, and memory failure were significantly observed among the students, evidencing the direct correlation between sleep and memory, since studies show that neurotoxic proteins can be deposited in the nervous tissue even after a poor sleep day, thus being a possible explanation for the correlation found between the MSQ and the PRMQ-10, i.e., the association between important sleep changes with high complaints of memory failure.

Palavras Chave

Glymphatic system. Sleep. Memory.