Exploration of Sleep Quality and Sleep Hygiene among QU students

Abstract

Sleep is an important component of healthy lifestyles. Worldwide reports suggest that one in every three adults suffers from insomnia. University students are vulnerable to insomnia due to their stressful lifestyle and inconsistent sleeping schedules, which contribute to poor, sleep hygiene. The purpose of this study is to explore the prevalence of sleeping problems among university students in Qatar and to investigate factors contributing to insomnia development. A cross-sectional survey utilizing two validated sleep questionnaires, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and the sleep hygiene index (SHI), were administered to Qatar University (QU) students in either English or Arabic. An online survey was sent to all QU students through e-mail. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse and report the findings. A total of 2,062 students responded to this survey. Most of the respondents were females, Qataris, and the majority of them belonged to the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business and Economics or Engineering. Around 25% of the participating students reported previous use of sleep aids. The findings indicated that the majority of the students had poor sleep quality (69.7%) and poor sleep hygiene (79%). A positive association was found between sleep quality and sleep hygiene (r = 0.39; p < 0.0001). College distribution and marital status were shown to significantly influence sleep quality (p =0.031 and p=0.02 respectively). The regression analysis revealed that sleep hygiene had the greatest effect on sleep quality (accounting for 7% of the variance) and individuals with good sleep hygiene were 4 times more likely to have good sleep quality. The findings of this study suggest that poor sleep quality and inadequate sleep hygiene practices are common among university students in Qatar, both of which may have a negative impact on students’ academic performance which warrants further investigation in future studies.