Lack of Sleep and Its Impact on Academic Performance among Nursing Students-Najran University, Saudi Arabia

Background: Sleep plays a very important role in a human being's health. It has been reported that sleep is an essential process for maintaining healthy physiological, psychological, and cognitive functions for human memory and learning. Nursing students might be exposed to high levels of pressure and stress due to their academic responsibilities besides other personal and societal stressors. They may not be able to sleep adequately due to many assignments, examinations and other personal activities. Thus, they are at increased risk for sleep disorders.

Aim: The main objective of the current study was to identify the association between sleeping patterns and the students' academic performance.

Methodology: This is a descriptive and facility-based study. A snowball sampling technique (SST) was utilized for this study conducted during the period from June to December 2020 at Najran University, College of Nursing. A close-ended questionnaire was utilized for collecting the data besides obtaining the academic score (GPA) from the student's records.

Results: The participants' mean age ± standard deviation (S±D) was 22.4 ± 3.1 years. The majority of students 46 (76.7%) are aged above 21 years old and half of them have a GPA range between 2.0–3.49. In this study, 85% of the studied subjects use to sleep about four to six hours per day, although 20% of them don't use to have day naps. Interestingly, 73.3% of them are currently living with their families which is correlated significantly with their GPA (P value = 0.05). Additionally, Day naps and duration of sleep hours per day were found to be statistically significant with their GPA (P value < 0.05) respectively. On the other hand, the body mass index was not statistically significant with their GPA (P value > 0.05). Nursing students frequently experienced sleepiness and insufficient sleep, which had an impact on their ability to operate during the day and their academic performance. As a result, individuals who exhibit symptoms of sleep disturbances are more likely to achieve academically poorly and receive low grades in their classes.

Conclusion: There should be suitable programs to help students identify the physical as well as psychological symptoms as early as possible and therefore, provide adequate guidance to improve their academic as well as physical performance. Additionally, any student who performs poorly in academics should be monitored and referred to the concerned professional for help.