Prevalence of short sleep duration and effect of co-morbid medical conditions – A cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background:Sleep is crucial to human's health and essential for a person's wellbeing. It is involved in multiple physiological mechanisms, such as metabolism, appetite regulation, immune and hormone function, and cardiovascular systems. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7–9 h of sleep each night for adults. Short (<7 h) and long (<9 h) sleep duration has been reported to be associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality.Aim:1) To assess the prevalence of short sleep durations among Saudi adult population. 2) To examine comorbid medical condition's association with short sleep duration.Methods:A nation-wide quantitative cross-sectional study using an online self-administered constructed questionnaire during the period from August to October 2018 was conducted. The questionnaire included demographic characters, such as age, gender, education level, height, and weight. As well as some of the participants’ habits such as consuming coffee and/or tea, smoking status, and other habits known to be associated with shorter sleep hours. The questionnaire also included self-reported duration of sleep and history of diagnosed medical illnesses.Results:The study included 805 adult Saudi participants with ages ranging from 15- to 60-year old and mean age of 21.8 ± 10.7-year old. About 63% of the participants were females. It was established that almost half 49.6% of the participants sleep for <7 h daily, and 39.3% of them sleep for 7–9 h.Conclusion:About half of Saudi adults do not get enough hours of sleep. Especially, people who are married, above 30-year old, students or tea drinkers (P < 0.05): furthermore, people with medical comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia had a higher association with short sleep duration. Last, sleep deprivation adversely affects the physical wellbeing and quality of life of participants, demonstrated in bad mood, somnolence, and tiredness during the day time.

Lifestyle behaviors trend and their relationship with fear level of COVID-19: Cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia

“…Sleep assessment indicated that about half of our participants achieved the recommended sleep duration [ 47 ]. This prevalence was similar to previously reported levels in studies conducted prior to COVID-19 [ 48 , 49 ]. However, about 58% of our sample reported poor sleep quality.…”

Determinants of Health Inequalities in Iran and Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review of the Sleep Literature

“…Descriptive synthesis. Ten articles [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ] were included in the final sample ( Table 1 ). They were all cross-sectional studies and published between 2006 and 2019.…”

Influência na qualidade de vida dos estudantes de Medicina relacionadas a má alimentação e sono

“…Em outra perspectiva, a pesquisa de Althakafi et al (2019) sugere que a diminuição na duração do sono poderia resultar em maior resistência à insulina, concomitante à queda do hormônio que suprime a ingesta alimentar denominado leptina e aumento do hormônio estimulante da fome, a grelina, o que ocorre por intermédio da regulação do eixo hipotálamoadrenal. Essa associação estaria envolvida com o surgimento de anormalidades metabólicas e aumento do peso.…”

“…Ainda de acordo comAlthakafi et al (2019), há uma estreita ligação entre a breve duração de sono e maiores chances de desencadear hiperlipidemias, acidentes automobilísticos e doenças arteriais coronarianas. Dados desse mesmo estudo afirmam a existência de uma associação entre o aumento da idade e a curta duração do sono, visto que, dentre os pesquisados, os participantes com idade superior a 30 anos dormiam menos do que 7 horas diárias de sono.…”