The Impact of Ocular Exercises on Headache Symptoms and Sleep Quality Among University Students with Refractive Errors

Abstract

Background and Objective: Refractive errors are prevalent ocular conditions within the general populations. It has been identified as one of a possible source of headaches and a detriment to sleep quality. The occurrence of refractive errors is particularly high among individuals who are at a higher level of education compared to the general population. Hence the objective of this study is to assess the impact of ocular exercises on headache characteristics and sleep quality and to investigate the correlation between refractive errors, quality of sleep and headache among university students with refractive errors. Methods: 39 university students with refractive errors were recruited after screening. Based on the type of refractive corrections, they were assigned to 2 experimental and 1 control group. 4 weeks of ocular exercises were performed to investigate the effect of ocular exercises on headache symptoms and sleep quality. The data collected were then analyzed using Paired-sample T-test, One-way ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation in IBM SPSS software statistics version 20. Results: In experimental group 1 (with glasses), there was a significant improvement of headache characteristics (p=0.005) and sleep quality (p=0.010) compared to experimental group 2 (with contact lens) and group 3 (without wearing any glasses or contact lens). Fair to moderate correlation between refractive errors, headache (p<0.0001) (p=0.002), and sleep quality (p=0.018) were analyzed using Pearson analysis. Conclusion: There is a significant impact of ocular exercises on headache symptoms and sleep quality among university students in experiment group. A fair to moderate association between refractive errors, headache and sleep quality. Keywords: Ocular exercises, Refractive errors, Headache, Sleep quality, University students