Panupong Boontongchuay
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Panupong Boontongchuay

Bangkok, Thailand

WHAT IS YOUR SPECIFIC AREA OF INTEREST IN YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY?

Advocacy to Promote Healthy Sleep and Prevent Sleep Deprivation in Youth

WHY IS YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Youth today are at greater risks to mental health challenges than before. They need to perform their best in all dimensions, at the school and at home.  With strong passion in sleep and society, I believe my experiences can get them to sleep better and live a restful life.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE MENTAL HEALTH IN YOUR COMMUNITY?

COVID-19 is a game-changer for the landscape of mental health in Thailand. The lock-down period enabled us to not only find peace from within, but also discover mental discomfort during the difficult times. People began to realize more about their mental wellbeing, but misperception remains widespread.

PROPOSED FELLOWSHIP PROJECT

Project: ‘Sleepy Youth in Sleepless Thailand’

The advocacy project will be carried out based on these goals as followed:

  1. to present to society and involve youth-centred organisations with awareness of chronic sleep deprivation in youth 
  2. to propose sleep-hygiene promotion as a tool to achieve healthy sleep in youth

This project aims to present the issue of chronic sleep deprivation among young people in Thailand and propose how to prevent it with sleep hygiene promotion. The importance of healthy sleep, defined as sleep with high quality and sufficient quantity, is underestimated among both the youth themselves as well as the general public. 

For young people, chronic sleep deprivation may result in a series of problems including low academic performance at school due to concentration difficulties and memory impairment, behavioural problems due to moodiness and aggression, road accidents caused by drowsy driving or microsleep, and/or negative consequences on the physical health. Therefore, it is highly important to raise awareness among the policymakers or involve youth-centred organisations in providing collaborative efforts to prevent and plan the mitigations for future possible outcomes while simultaneously educating the young people and the whole society to be aware of chronic sleep deprivation, its effect on young people and understand how they can improve their sleep with sleep hygiene techniques into their daily life.