Sleep quality assessment among Iranian postgraduate academics

Having a good quality sleep is essential for college students to support their academic success, physical health, mental well-being, and overall productivity. In this study, we evaluated the sleep quality among graduate students studying medical physiology at Tarbiat Modares University.

46 students including 11 master's and 31 doctoral students, and also 4 postdoctoral researchers participated in this study. Sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh sleep quality questionnaire.

The overall sleep quality score of participants was 6.8±0.49, indicating that the students faced poor sleep quality. Sleep disturbance was significantly higher in female than male students (p<0.05). Moreover, students with higher age, married or engaged in carrying out the practical experiments related to their thesis had a lower score (p<0.05) (i.e. better performance) in the daily functioning component compared to other students.

This study showed that medical physiology students have poor sleep quality. This undesirable sleep quality can impair the students learning and research skills. It is recommended that appropriate plans be made and necessary training be provided to students to improve their sleep quality.