Sleep plays an important role in the life of every person because it influences the physical health, provides people with an opportunity to reproduce the required portion of energy, and improve behavioral and emotional challenges. Nowadays, sleep research is famous in different countries (Hellström, Fagerstrom, & Willman, 2011), and scientists identify that sleep loss or deprivation may influence the quality of life considerably in terms of academic success, working effectiveness, and safety (Owens et al., 2014). The need of sleep has been investigated thoroughly, and many researchers admit that sleep disorders and the inabilities to gain control over the duration of sleep bother a number of people. Sometimes, the cases of voluntary sleep restriction can be used to prove the necessity of sleep deprivation for medical purposes. Still, in the majority of cases, it is underlined that people have to sleep well and long (at least eight hours) to have good health and avoid numerous behavioral and mental problems.
Today, people aged between 20 and 40 have a number of disturbing factors around and cannot even guess how such simple things as caffeine (James, Kristjánsson, & Sigfúsdóttir, 2011), televisions and music players (Owens et al., 2014), or alcohol and tobacco (Hellström, Fagerstrom, & Willman, 2011) can predetermine the quality of sleep. People are in need of effective interventions that can be offered by specialists in regards to the living conditions of a person, their working details, and some health factors that may be connected to sleep (such as chronic illnesses, behavioral or mental disorders, etc.). There are many ways of how people can improve their sleep and their health: constant examination, diagnostic tests, attention to a style of life, etc. There are also a plenty of interventions that can be offered to people between 20 and 40 to improve their sleep.
According to Hellström, Fagerstrom, and Willman (2011), nursing interventions can be used as appropriate human interactions that can help to create an environment where people comprehend the worth of their health and the importance of a good sleep. It was proved that nursing is one of the best ways of caring for people and contributing their health. Hellström, Fagerstrom, and Willman (2011) offer the idea of sleep hygiene as one of the ideas that can help to minimize the factors that can disturb people on two different levels: environmental and personal. There are a number of examples of how sleep hygiene can be intervened in a human life: the possibility to improve comfort in the room where a person sleeps, control light, avoid using alcohol and caffeine at late hours, when it is time to bed (James, Kristjánsson, & Sigfúsdóttir, 2011), and reduce napping during a day. The authors admit that the application of such activities is possible; still, the effects of such interventions are hard to identify and analyze (Hellström, Fagerstrom, & Willman, 2011).
Therefore, this project should help to understand how nurses can promote a sleep hygiene intervention among their patients between 20 and 40, explain why such demographic segmentation is crucial for research, and underline the importance of this intervention to the chosen group of people as well as to other people around. The intervention of sleep hygiene in care settings is easy. Still, it is necessary to understand if people can use the same intervention independently at their homes and how nurses can influence the development of this intervention under different conditions. In fact, not much literature can be found about this type intervention from the offered aspect.
Still, much information about health promotion, health promotion theories, health behaviors, and behavioral changes can be found in libraries and online. Nola Pender and Dorothea Orem are the two famous nursing theorists, who offer their ideas on how to improve the concepts of self-care, describe the peculiarities of nursing, and share their opinions about the issues of health, the environment that is safe for patients, the development of nurse-patient relations, etc. The health promotion model developed by Pender shows that every person has their own characteristics that define the quality of personal experience and the outcomes of the chosen actions. Pender’s model helps to realize that “raising health status and avoiding illness are the major motivational significance in health promotional behavioral practice” (Joseph & Mathew, 2013, p. 12). On the basis of this model, it is easy and effective to investigate and promote new interventions or explain the worth of the already offered ideas. There are several theoretical propositions under which people can comprehend how their prior behavior may influence beliefs and performance. To apply this model, it is necessary to identify certain cognitive and perceptual factors such as knowledge of the issue and its possible preventive steps, modifying factors, and actual steps that are taken to improve the situation.
The theory of self-care developed by Orem is another approach that can be applicable to the necessity of sleep hygiene intervention. It identifies the necessity of practice under which nurses can identify the problem and take the steps that help to maintain life and well-being. Regarding the fact that Orem’s theory touches upon too general questions, it is suggested to use the theoretical aspects developed by Pender to explain how sleep hygiene could be promoted by nurses and help people between 20 and 40 to improve their well-being.
References
Hellström, A., Fagerstrom, C., & Willman, A. (2011). Promoting sleep by nursing interventions in health care settings: A systematic review. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 8(3), 128-142.
James, J. E., Kristjánsson, Á. L., & Sigfúsdóttir, I. D. (2011). Adolescent substance use, sleep, and academic achievement: Evidence of harm due to caffeine. Journal of adolescence, 34(4), 665-673.
Joseph, J. E., & Mathew, S. (2013). An Evaluation to assess the Knowledge regarding Prevention and Management of Chickenpox in Children among Mothers having Children below 10 years of age residing at selected community area of Allahabad (India). International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies, 2(1), 11-21.
Owens, J., Au, R., Carskadon, M., Millman, R., Wolfson, A., Braverman, P. K.,… & Murray, P. J. (2014). Insufficient sleep in adolescents and young adults: An update on causes and consequences. Pediatrics, 134(3), 921-932.
