Delegates: Portuguese Sleep Association, Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of the University of Coimbra and Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention of the University of Coimbra, Portugal
Affiliations: Portuguese Sleep Association, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Short Bio:
The Portuguese Sleep Association (APS) joins professionals from many health, education and university groups in order to promote awareness, education and research related to sleep in a multidisciplinary perspective and addressed to health professionals and scholar, professional and general population.
The Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of the University of Coimbra (CNC -UC) is a Research Institute committed to foster advanced biomedical research, high-quality multidisciplinary graduate teaching at the University of Coimbra, and public engagement in science. Sleep research and awareness are highly relevant concerns for the institute.
The Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC) is a Research and Development Unit of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences – University of Coimbra. The main aims of CINEICC are to study (neuro)psychological factors and processes in health and psychopathology, and to test empirically-based interventions.
Activity:
A large-scale World Sleep Day (WSD) campaign has been developed by the partners of this application, based on the slogan “Regular sleep, healthy future”.
- APS and CNC-UC worked up, during March and April, on many WSD activities. Telematic means and social networking were crucial to reach people of all ages, considering the universal pandemic situation:
- On each day of March there was a new alert sentence about sleep in APS website – https://www.apsono.com/pt/2-uncategorised/453-dia-mundial-do-sono-2021, and also on the social media of APS, CNC-UC and SleepApnea ID research team (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). These messages were replaced by infographic videos on the WSD and next weekend. These posts surpassed more than 1 500 000 interactions.
- On March 19 we published an article on a digital journal for families and children – Estrelas & Ouriços, Bons Momentos em Família: “10 advices to prevent sleep problems in children” – https://estrelaseouricos.sapo.pt/temas/saude/10-conselhos-para-prevenir-problemas-do-sono-infan-25105.html
- On March 17, a digital illustrated chronicle was published on Público (one of the main daily Portuguese newpapers): “Why is sleep affected by electronic equipment light?”. This chronicle was published within the scope of the CNC-UC science communication project called Saúde no Saber (Health in Knowledge). This publication reached, so far, more than 21.600 interactions.
- Also under the scope of the same project a set of digital content about sleep was launched: an interview for RUC (Rádio Universidade de Coimbra) (https://youtu.be/q7PxHrbzJbE), a PodCast (https://youtu.be/nV9f11RJCnY) and an animation (https://youtu.be/5TxgVTJOsJg). These posts reached more than 6.000 people online so far.
- In coordination with the General Directorate of Education, a block of lessons about Sleep was introduced in each academic year (from elementary to high school students) of the TV/Online School Program – Estudo em Casa – transmitted by the National Public TV. This program, transmitted during April and May, will be archived for future consultation. A drawing competition about “Sleep Hygiene” was launched in collaboration with a health technology company and aims to challenge students to illustrate the sleep hygiene habits presented during the lessons. The winners will have their drawing printed on postal cards and distributed through national schools. Moreover, the schools associated with the winners’ applications will also receive a surprise award.
- APS and CINEICC have published on March 19 the results of the online research “Sleep in Pandemic Times” (over 1000 participants) on Expresso (a main weekly Portuguese newspaper) which triggered a great number of interviews and public occasions to speak about sleep. A publication of the results is on preparation.
- Many interviews and webinars, mainly on magazines, newspapers, TV, radio (including a radio station from Paris where there is a huge Portuguese community) were held. Need of regular sleep for a healthy future was always highlighted, although sleep and pandemics was often approached.
Location: All over Portugal – Continental area, Portuguese Islands (Madeira, Azores) and other countries with Portuguese population.
Date of Activity: During March and next two months
