Association between sleep quality and stress among medical students of a rural indian tertiary care setting

Abstract

Background: Due to the rigorous academic standards and demanding professionals, the medical field is thought to be a stressful subject of study. This has a negative impact on the student’s mental and physical health. The long-term effects of this study will have an impact on identifying major issues that our students are facing, which will ultimately improve the level of medical treatment offered by future doctors. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from October to December 2020 at a tertiary care institution in Tamil Nadu, India for three months. After getting the necessary ethical permissions from the institution with reference number GEMC/2020/002, the undergraduate students from the first year to the internship were included in the study. Results: The educational status of the students indicated that around 147 (31.1%) of respondents belonged in the first year. The mean + Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was observed to be 6.33 + 2.13, where undesirable sleep quality was predominant among 370 (78.3%) of the respondents with a p-value of less than 0.0001. The majority of the students (70.1%) have normal levels of stress which were significant with a p-value of 0.0027. Conclusion: Medical students experience poor sleep and ongoing stress, which can result in harmful behaviors like overindulging in junk food and a reduced likelihood of exercising. They are undeniably more prone to developing chronic illnesses. If these issues are not addressed, they will affect the medical care that is given to their incoming patients.

Keywords

• medical students
• mental health
• sleep
• stress