Abstract:
Background: Allied Health Sciences students are a unique group of students found in
university system and health care system. Although ample sleep is very important for
physical and mental fitness of healthy beings, sleeping may be deprived due to academic and
clinical commitments. It may lead to memory impairment and, poor academic and
psychomotor performances. Hence, it is a concealed problem among students that has not
been recognized as a problem.
Objectives: To compare sleep and wake habits with academic performances of Allied
Health Sciences students of selected universities in Sri Lanka.
Methodology: This descriptive cross sectional and comparative study was conducted with
292 Allied Health Sciences students in University of Ruhuna and University of Peradeniya.
All students except first year students and new comers were invited for the study. Data was
collected using a pre tested self-administered questionnaire and academic performance was
assessed by GPAs of students at the end of the first year. Data was analysed using SPSS 21
software. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of Faculty of
Medicine, University of Ruhuna.
Results and conclusions: In our study, majority of students were female (81.2%). Mean
Grade Point Average for the whole sample was 2.59 ± 0.51. According to Chi – square test,
Fragmentation of sleep (P = 0.031; P < 0.05 ), poor sleep health (having sleep problems)
(P = 0.042; P < 0.05+ ) had significant relationships with GPA. Spearman’s correlation was
used to measure the relationship between those two aspects with GPA. According to the
Spearman’s correlation, Fragmentation of sleep (P = 0.002; P < 0.01 ), poor sleep health
(having sleep problems) (P = 0.005; P < 0.01 ) had significant relationships with GPA.
Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between sleep wake
habits and the academic performance. This relationship is completely independent of the
university. The findings may show the traditional sleeping patterns of the Sri Lankan
students. Further, students suffering from any kind of sleeping problems were more proned
to have low grades at the examinations than who did not have any sleeping problems.
