Chronotype is a circadian phenotype expressed in the preference of individuals to perform their activities and sleep in specific phases along the day. The objective of the study was to identify anxiety levels, quality of sleep and different chronotypes of university students and investigate their possible relationships. This is a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, in which 103 undergraduate students answered the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). There is a relationship between chronotype, quality of sleep and anxiety in the investigated population. Evening chronotype students showed higher anxiety status and have poor sleep quality when compared with morning chronotype students. The high occurrence of anxiety levels and poor sleep quality in evening students may be a consequence of high academic demand in a shift incompatible with the phase delay of the circadian timing system of these individuals.

Circadian hygiene, a concept not to be confused with the notion of public or social hygiene, should be discussed among experts and society. Light–dark cycles and other possible synchronizers of the human circadian timing system affect ways of life, including sleeping, eating, working and physical activity. Some of these behaviors have also been investigated individually as synchronizers (e.g., eating times). Therefore, the knowledge held today about circadian rhythms, and their implications for health, allows future perspectives in this field to be mapped. The present article summarizes the latest knowledge on factors influencing circadian rhythms to discuss a perspective for the future of health promotion based on circadian hygiene. However, it is important to highlight that circadian hygiene is the product of an imbrication of individual and societal involvement. First, it is important to adopt practices and devise public health policies in line with circadian hygiene. Second, individual healthy habits require internal rhythms to be examined. Last, the research agenda on circadian hygiene can be developed on a public as well as individual level, raising the question as to how much society is willing to embrace this change.

Oncotarget | https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27204 Victor Menezes Silva, Jessica Alves Gomes, Liliane Patrícia Gonçalves Tenório, Genilda Castro de Omena Neta, Karen da Costa Paixão, Ana Kelly Fernandes...

OBJECTIVE: To identify lifestyle-related, sociodemographic, and mental health characteristics of people with insomnia symptoms and people without insomnia during the pandemic. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted with data collected by snowball sampling using an online questionnaire. From November 2020 to April 2021, 6,360 people with a mean age of 43.5 years (SD = 14.3) participated in the survey. For this study, we considered 158 cases of insomnia disorder and 476 controls (three controls per case) randomly selected from the participants without sleep problems. RESULTS: The results of the comparative analysis between cases and controls showed that sleeping less than six hours daily (OR = 3.89; 95%CI 2.50-6.05), feeling sadness frequently (OR = 2.95; 95%CI 1.69-5.17), residing in metropolitan areas (OR = 1.71; 95%CI 1.04-2.84), being 40 years or older (OR = 1.93; 95%CI 1.22-3.06), and the interaction between occupation and poorer education (OR = 2.12; 95%CI 1.22-3.69) were predictors for symptoms of insomnia disorder during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to confirming the hypothesis that mental health problems are associated with insomnia symptoms, the results point to insomnia as an important outcome for studies on the effects of unemployment, vulnerability and low education of the population, especially in large cities, highlighting that the effects of the crisis on health and the economy are extremely unequally distributed.

Este artigo tem por objetivo relatar uma experiência sobre uma ação extensionista de promoção da saúde, direcionada ao conhecimento sobre a saúde sexual e reprodutiva entre adolescentes. A abordagem dessa temática deve contribuir com a redução da incidência de gravidez na adolescência e disseminação de Infeções Sexualmente Transmissíveis, buscando incentivar atitudes responsáveis e respeitosas em relação à sexualidade. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, do tipo relato de experiência, desenvolvido por graduandos do segundo período de Medicina, como parte da disciplina de curricularização da extensão de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior de Maceió-AL. A ação contribuiu para o fortalecimento da temática sobre sexualidade em escolas como ponto fundamental para o desenvolvimento saudável e consciente dos adolescentes.