Sleep quality and its psychological correlates among university students in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundSleep is an important physiological process for humans. University students in most resource limited countries often report poor sleep quality due to changing social opportunities and increasing academic demands. However, sleep quality among university students has not been studied in Ethiopia. Thus, this study assessed sleep quality and its demographic and psychological correlates among university students.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in two universities in Ethiopia. Multistage sampling procedures were used to enroll 2,817 students into the study. A self-administered structured questionnaire including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and selected modules of the World Health Organization STEPS instrument was used for the study. This research included 2,551 students. Frequency, median, mean with standard deviation and 95% confidence interval were used to characterize sleep quality and other variables. Analysis of variance and binary logistic regression procedures were also used.ResultThe prevalence of poor sleep quality (total PSQI score > 5) was 55.8% (1,424). Female students (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.23; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.57), second year (AOR 2.91; 95% CI: 2.1, 4.02) and third year students (AOR 2.25; 95% CI 1.62, 3.12) had statistically significant higher odds of poor sleep quality. Perceived stress level and symptoms of depression and anxiety were strongly associated with sleep quality.ConclusionA substantial proportion of university students are affected by poor sleep quality. If our results are confirmed in prospective studies, health promotion and educational programs for students should emphasize the importance of sleep and mental health.

Mister Sandman, bring me good marks! On the relationship between sleep quality and academic achievement

“…Last, some studies also report positive correlations between sleep quality or sleep duration on the one hand and grade point averages and exam passing probabilities on the other hand in tertiary education in China, Ethiopia, Germany and Portugal (Ahrberg et al, 2012;Genzel et al, 2013;Gomes, 2011;Lemma et al, 2014;Wong et al, 2012).…”

The Improvement of Sleep by Oral Intake of GABA and <i>Apocynum venetum</i> Leaf Extract

“…In general, antianxiety drugs are also effective for the improvement of sleep because psychological disorders such as stress, depression and anxiety are deeply involved in sleep quality (9,10). GABA is known to have effects of anti-stress and relaxation (3)(4)(5)(6), and AVLE is also effective for relieving depression (7) and anxiety (8).…”

“…2), shows antidepressant effects (7) and antianxiety and antihypertensive activities (8). Since both GABA and AVLE have effects on psychological disorders, which are deeply involved in sleep quality (9,10), the improvement of sleep can be expected from ingestion of them. In fact, GABA has been reported to help elderly people to sleep well (11), and AVLE has been recorded in 'Pharmacopoeia of People's Republic of China' and used as an herbal medicine to treat insomnia in China (12).…”

Basic Scale on Insomnia complaints and Quality of Sleep (BaSIQS): Reliability, initial validity and normative scores in higher education students

“…In addition, complaints of insomnia or poor sleep quality have been consistently reported in higher-education students in a variety of countries from all continents (e.g. Alapin et al, 2000;Allen Gomes et al, 2009;Fernández-Mendoza et al, 2009;Lack, 1986;Lemma et al, 2012;Lima et al, 2002;Lohsoonthorn, 2013;Machado et al, 1998;Taylor et al, 2013;Wong et al, 2013). Therefore, it seems that insomnia symptoms and poor sleep quality complaints in undergraduate/graduate students deserve more attention.…”

“…However, even in such samples with a majority of reasonably healthy individuals, sleep quality assessed by different methods has been associated with a myriad of daytime correlates, such as academic achievement (Lemma et al, 2013;Tavernier & Willoughby, 2013;Wong et al, 2013), psychosocial functioning (e.g. friendship quality; self-esteem) (Tavernier & Willoughby, 2013), neuroticism, social support (Cheng et al, 2012), reported health (Cheng et al, 2012;Pilcher et al, 1997;Wong et al, 2013), wellbeing indicators (Pilcher et al, 1997), perceived stress level, and symptoms of depression and anxiety (Lemma et al, 2012;Wong et al, 2013). In addition, complaints of insomnia or poor sleep quality have been consistently reported in higher-education students in a variety of countries from all continents (e.g.…”