Sleep Quality in relation with Perceived Stress and Physical Activity in the Students of Pakistani Medical Colleges

Abstract

Background: Sleep is an essential function of our body. Many surveys have reported the prevalence of poor sleep in university students, especially in medical students.  Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of physical activity and stress on sleep quality among medical students in Pakistan. Materials & Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students of private medical colleges in Lahore. A convenient sampling technique was used and 210 students were selected. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Godin Shephard Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire (GSLTPAQ), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS 10) were used for data collection. We used SPSS version 20 to analyze data and applied statistical tests: Chi-square test and Logistic Regression.  p-value < 0.05 was taken to establish significance. Results: Among the study participants 91(43.3%) were males and 119 (57.7%) were females. There was a significant effect of stress level on sleep quality (P=0.000*). The frequency of good sleepers was seen to increase by almost three times with increasing physical activity, however, this difference remained non-significant (p=0.07). The logistic regression test showed a significant relationship between poor sleep and stress (p=0. 008**) while no significant relationship was seen between sleep quality and physical activity. Conclusion: There was a significant association between poor sleep and high-stress levels and an increase in physical activity showed an increase in the frequency of good sleep, however, this difference was non-significant. It can be inferred that this positive effect of increasing physical activity on the quality of sleep could be indirectly due to its relieving effect on stress.