0924 Poor sleep regularity is widespread among first-year medical students

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Poor sleep health is widespread within healthcare and is notoriously neglected during residency; however, little is known about sleep quality during the pre-clinical years of medical school. Sleep regularity is increasingly recognized as a key driver for sleep quality and health. This study sought to determine the prevalence of and the factors that contribute to irregular sleep among first-year medical students. Methods A one-time, 130-item survey was distributed to the first year medical school class three months into the first semester. Quantitative and open-text questions asked about various sleep health related topics, including sleep regularity across weekdays (WDs) and weekends (WEs) for the past two weeks. Likert scale responses were treated as continuous data and reported as mean ± standard deviation. Means for WD and WE times were compared using paired t-tests. Statistical significance was considered a p-value ≤0.05. Results Out of 209 medical students in the first-year class, 58% (n=121) completed the sleep irregularity items on the survey. Demographics mirrored those of the whole class: 46% male, 54% female, and average age 23.5. The differences between WD and WE times for getting into bed (1.03 hours ± 0.90 hours), falling asleep (0.92 ± 0.80 hours), waking up (1.62 ± 0.84 hours), and getting out of bed (1.89 ± 0.93 hours) were significant (p< 0.001). Furthermore, 49.3% of participants reported significant bedtime or wake time variability (>3 hours difference from one day to another) at least once per week during the past 3 months. This occurred despite respondents expressing a strong belief in the importance of sleep consistency (7.1 ± 2.25 on a 10-point Likert scale; 0=Strongly Disagree, 5=Neutral, 10=Strongly Agree). Conclusion Poor sleep regularity is widespread during the first year of medical school. While students are aware of the importance of consistent bedtimes and wake times, they rarely follow this knowledge suggesting that external factors encountered during medical school such as poorly balanced academic workloads or stress might be to blame. Future studies should seek to better understand the factors contributing to poor sleep regularity in medical school and develop interventions to help students address any barriers. Support (if any)