Sleep Pattern and Academic Performance among Nursing Students at Nepal Police Hospital School of Health Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: The cognitive performance of an individual is determined by sleep duration. Adequate sleep is required for general alertness and attention. Fewer than seven hours’ sleep per night causes slowed cognitive processing. Students who do not sleep or wake up at consistent times daily are more likely to have lower grades. Hence, this study is to find out the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance in nursing students of Nepal Police Hospital School of Health Sciences.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study conducted in the Nepal Police Hospital School of Health Sciences, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, from August 2024 to November 2024. A total of 80 students participated in the study, as that is the maximum sample size available at the school of nursing. A self-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data, which had already been used by the researcher.

Results: More than half (68.8%) of students go to bed later than the usual time around the final examination, whereas only 1.3% never go to bed around the final exam. The majority (86.3%) of students wake up earlier than usual in the morning every time around the final exam, whereas fewer students (3.8%) never or rarely wake up earlier than usual in the morning before the final exam. Similarly, nearly half of the students (40%) wake up earlier than usual around the final examination, and 45% of the students sleep for about 4 hours during the night before final exams, whereas fewer (3.8%) of the students sleep for about 7 hours in the night before final exams. 

There was a significant association between performance in the final exam and typical wake-up time (p=0.036), duration of sleep at night during normal school days (p < 0.001), earlier makeup than usual time in the morning (p < 0.001), and duration of sleep during the night before the final exam (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The score obtained in the final exam was significantly associated with duration of sleep and wake-up time during normal school days, as well as in the morning before the final exam. So, this study concludes that a short sleep pattern and bad sleep habits are associated with a higher risk of poor academic performance.