Sleep quality and chronotype of nursing students

Abstract

Objective: To verify the quality of sleep, chronotype, and health characteristics associated with the sleep quality of students. Methods: Descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study with 204 undergraduate nursing students (age group 18-29 years, 91.6% female). A questionnaire was used for sociodemographic and health characterization. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire were applied to verify the sleep quality and identify the chronotype, respectively. The association between health variables and sleep quality was analyzed. Results: The majority of students was identifed with preference for the indifferent chronotype (56.37%) and poor sleep quality (84.31%). There was an association between being a student and working, with symptoms of poor digestion, headache, daytime sleepiness and insomnia. Conclusion: Nursing students have poor sleep quality and preference for the indifferent chronotype. Those who accumulate the study/work functions, present more symptoms of poor digestion, headache, daytime sleepiness and insomnia.