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The Relationship Between Anxiety and Sleep Quality Among Medical Students

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Abstract

Background

Anxiety and sleep disorders are both prevalent afflictions. The purpose of this study was to assess the anxiety and sleep quality prevalence among medical students and the relationship between sleep quality, anxiety, and other variables.

Method

This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 140 medical students at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Anxiety and sleep disorders were measured by Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) respectively.

Result

Most of the participants had sleep disturbances (87.9%), and sleep latency (69.3%), and were suffering from poor sleep quality (68.6%). Also, 65.0% of students slept less than 7 h during the day and only a few students used sleeping medications (5.0%). We found a significant relationship between sleep quality and educational level (p < 0.05). In addition, subjective sleep quality and sleep disturbance level had a significant association with anxiety (p < 0.05). However, there was no relation between sleep duration, daily dysfunction, and anxiety (p > 0.05). Furthermore, we obtained a correlation between anxiety and poor sleep quality (R2 = 0.13).

Conclusion

Poor sleep quality and a high anxiety level are weakly correlated. Monitoring, treating, and preventing anxiety in students can improve both their academic and personal quality of life.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Department of Epidemiology at Mashhad University of medical sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Mojtaba Mousavi Bazaz

  2. Nutrition Research Group, Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Fatemeh Shahsavan

  3. Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Bahonar Blvd, Mashhad, Iran

    Ashkan Torshizian, Pooria Salehi & Seyyed Mohammad Matin Alavi Dana

  4. Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence Research Group (NAIRG), Student Research Committee, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Yasin Parvizi

Authors
  1. Mojtaba Mousavi Bazaz
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  2. Fatemeh Shahsavan
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Correspondence to Seyyed Mohammad Matin Alavi Dana.

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Bazaz, M.M., Shahsavan, F., Torshizian, A. et al. The Relationship Between Anxiety and Sleep Quality Among Medical Students. Sleep Vigilance 7, 179–185 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41782-023-00242-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41782-023-00242-7

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