The effect of chronotype (morningness/eveningness) on medical students' academic achievement in Sudan

Abstract

Objectives: There is increasing awareness about the effects of circadian misalignment on health and work. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of chronotype on academic achievement among medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted among 140 medical students (64 who averaged an A grade and 76 who averaged a C grade) completing the clinical phase at the medical college of Omdurman University, Sudan. The participants were asked to sign a written informed consent and to keep a diary detailing their bedtime, wake-up time, sleep latency, and sleep duration during working days and weekends. Then, the participants were invited to respond to a questionnaire. The chronotype was calculated from the mid-sleep time during the weekend and sleep debt. Various sleep parameters were then compared between the two groups. A t-test and logistic regression analysis were used to test the statistical significance. Results: The medical students with average grades were more of the evening chronotype than the students with excellent grades (p  0.05). Conclusion: Students whose average grade was a C were more likely to have a later bedtimes during weekdays and weekends, sleep more during weekends, and were more evening. Keywords: Academic performance, Chronotype, Medical students, Sleep duration, Sleep pattern