Relationship between Poor Quality Sleep during Ramadan and Academic Performance among Students in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Adequate sleep is essential for improving cognitive function, memory retention, and academic performance. During Ramadan, many students suffer with the changes in mealtimes that lead to variations in caloric and nutrient intake and affect sleep quality. Disturbed and poor sleep results in decreased academic performance and impaired judgment. This study aim was to assess the relationship between poor quality sleep during Ramadan and academic performance among students in Saudi Arabia. It also provided suggested strategies to improve students’ sleep quality and academic performance. It was a cross-sectional study, which was conducted by using an online questionnaire from April to May 2022. The questionnaire consisted of two components. The first portion contained demographic data, such as gender, age, and academic performance. The second section was devoted to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).Study participants were students of both genders aged 18 and older. The survey was completed by 583 students, of whom 364 (62.4%) were female and only 219 (37.6%) were male. Almost all the participants were aged between 21–23 years. Four hundred and eight (70.0%) were single. The results of the PSQI overall score were that 460 students (78.9%) had poor sleep quality, whereas 123 (21.1%) had good sleep quality. Most of the students with poor academic performance had very bad sleep quality (45%), sleep latency of more than one hour (41.4%), sleep duration < 5 hours (43.2%), and sleep efficiency of <65% (52.3%). The majority of these students had sleep disturbances three or more times a week (43.2%), and they suffered dysfunction every day (43.2%). The results revealed an association between all the PSQI components and academic performance (p < 0.05) except sleep duration. The majority of students had poor sleep quality in Ramadan. We would recommend that students be made aware of the impact of poor sleep habits on academic performance, that students are taught skills, such as how to manage their time well and how to get a good night's sleep, and suggest that universities change the time that students study during Ramadan to fit their abilities.