Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Oct;41(5):674-678.
doi: 10.1007/s40596-016-0655-3. Epub 2017 Jan 17.

Sleep Knowledge and Behaviors in Medical Students: Results of a Single Center Survey

Navid Ahmed  1 , Mohammad Sadat  1 , Daniel Cukor  2
Affiliations

Sleep Knowledge and Behaviors in Medical Students: Results of a Single Center Survey

Navid Ahmed et al. Acad Psychiatry. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: There is little known about the demands of medical school on students' sleep behavior. The study's main goal was to examine the interplay between medical students' sleep knowledge, personal attitudes towards sleep, and their sleep habits.

Methods: An anonymous online survey was created and emailed to all students enrolled at a large metropolitan medical school. Data on demographics, sleep perception, and habits in addition to self-reported measures of students' sleep knowledge, beliefs, and sleepiness were collected.

Results: There were 261, out of a possible 720, responses to the survey. While 71.5% of respondents believed that they needed >7 h of sleep, only 24.9% of respondents stated they average >7 h of sleep. During the week of an examination, only 15.3% of students stated they averaged >7 h of sleep. A comparison of pre-clinical and clinical students revealed that reported median sleep during a school or rotation night was significantly lower in clinical students as compared to pre-clinical students while mean sleep during examination weeks between the two groups was not statistically different. In regard to sleep knowledge, clinical students were more knowledgeable (65.53% correct) than pre-clinical students (39.83% correct) (t(1) = -8.9, p = .00). However, there was no difference in the assessment of dysfunctional beliefs between the two groups (66.0 for preclinical students, 64.7 for clinical students (t(1) = 0.37, p = .71)) while clinical students had a higher score of sleepiness compared to pre-clinical students (9.12 to 7.83, t(1) = -2.3, p = .023).

Conclusions: A majority of medical students are sleeping an inadequate amount of time during their 4 years, and as they progress from the pre-clinical to the clinical years, the amount of time they sleep decreases even though their knowledge about sleep increases. Increased awareness around sleep health is required beyond sleep education, as medical students appear to need help translating knowledge into strategies to improve their own sleep and well-being.

Keywords: Emotional problems; Medical students; Workforce.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states there is no conflict of interest.

Comment in

References

    1. Watson NF, Badr MS, Belenky G, Bliwise DL, Buxton OM, Buysse D, Dinges DF, Gangwisch J, Grandner MA, Kushida C, Malhotra RK. Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. Sleep. 2015 Jun 1;38(6):843–4. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pikovsky O, Oron M, Shiyovich A, Perry Z, Nesher L. The impact of sleep deprivation on sleepiness, risk factors and professional performance in medical residents. The Israel Med Ass J: IMAJ [serial online] 2013 Dec;15(12):739–744. - PubMed
    1. Ferrara M, Gennaro LD. How much sleep do we need? Sleep Med Rev. 2001;5:155–79. - PubMed
    1. Kim HJ, Kim JH, Park KD, Choi KG, Lee HW. A survey of sleep deprivation patterns and their effects on cognitive functions of residents and interns in Korea. Sleep Med. 2011;12(4):390–6. - PubMed
    1. Kovacić Z, Marendić M, Soljić M, Pecotić R, Kardum G, Dogas Z. Knowledge and attitude regarding sleep medicine of medical students and physicians in Split, Croatia. Croatian MedJ [serial online] 2002 Feb;43(1):71–74. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources