Sleep habits and patterns among medical students

Objectives: This study was designed to assess sleeppatterns among male medical students at differentacademic levels.Methods: Participants in this study were healthy malemedical students in the first (L1), second (L2) and third(L3) academic levels of the College of Medicine, KingSaud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study wasconducted during November 2001. A self-administeredquestionnaire was distributed to students to assess age,academic level, registered credit hours, sleep-wakeschedule, naps, quality of sleep, total sleep time at night,possible factors affecting bedtime, and daytimesleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).Results: The final analysis included 129 students.Total sleep time at night + nap of the whole group was5.9 ± 1.6 hours. Twenty-nine students (22.4%) weredefined to have excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)based on ESS score of 10. Also, 83.3% of studentsreported napping during the daytime more than twice perweek.Conclusion: Analysis of the sleep pattern of malemedical students revealed that this group is sleepdeprived, which in turn may affect their academicperformance.