SLEEP PATTERNS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS

THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A CROSS SECTIONAL SURVEY.

Abstract

Objectives: To identify sleep patterns of medical students and determine
the relationship between sleep habits and academic performance. Background: Human
beings adopt three different sleeping patterns; monophasic, biphasic and polyphasic. Sleep
allows synaptic molding to return by developing faster memory union. When such memory
processing is not present, memory keeping is reduced which can have an adverse effect
on the academic performance of students. Professional education in the field of medicine
requires learning a greater amount and variety of syllabi to practice as a satisfactory medical
graduate. Among medical students, the burden of the extensive curriculum often results in
the development of non-recuperative sleeping patterns, which can, in turn, affect their overall
academic performance. This study strives to deduce the sleeping patterns of students and the
connection between those sleeping patterns and academic performance. Study Design: A
cross-sectional questionnaire based survey. Setting: Jinnah Medical & Dental College, Karachi.
Period: 2013. Methods: Sleep patterns of 347 medical students from year 1 -4. The results
of the midterm examinations were cross-tabulated with the sleep patterns to determine the
relationship between them. Results: Our study showed that out of 347 medical students, 38.9%
(n=135) had monophasic, 46.7% (n=162) had biphasic and 14.4% (n=50) had a polyphasic
sleep pattern. 67.4% of monophasics, 87.0% of biphasics and 66.0% of polyphasics passed
their midterm examination. Conclusion: Biphasic students performed the best in their midterm
examinations. This is in agreement with scientific proof that sleeping in two phases matches
the body’s instinctive circadian rhythm, hormonal regulation and memory creation. These two
phases are sleeping once at night and having one shorter period during the day. Professional
colleges should advise and educate students in order to encourage them to acquire adequate
sleep through appropriate sleeping patterns by which they may support their academic learning.