Ravichandran S¹,
Shalini L²,
Palani S³,
Ganapathy M⁴
¹Professor and Head,
²Assistant Professor,
³Assistant Professor
⁴Post-graduate
Department of Physiology,
Govt. Kilpauk Medical College,
Chennai,
Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

• Background: Due to the COVID pandemic, online classes have become mandatory in our educational systems which has ledto increase in the usage of blue light emitting devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops. This has led to increased cognitive stimulation resulting in sleep disturbances, emotional distress, sleep deprivation and other mental health related issues.
• Aim: The aim of our study is to assess the impact of online learning on sleep quality among medical students.
• Materials and Methods: Our study is an observational cross-sectional study conducted among medical students of government medical college. The sample size was calculated to be 203.A pre-validated questionnaire “Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)“was used to assess the sleep quality of the medical students. Healthy college students of age between 18-23 years of both sexes, who have attended online classesduring covid pandemic, and who are willing to participate in the study were included. Thepre-validated questionnaire in google form format was sent to them and their responses were collected. It is a self-reported questionnaire that evaluates the quality of sleep over the previous month.
• Results: 226 students including 106 males and 120 female students participated in our study. Our study shows that around 41% of students are affected by poor or very poor sleep quality. In our study almost 30% of medical students have an increased sleep latency.
• Conclusion: There is an increase in prevalence of poor sleep quality among medical college students. Interventions are needed to prevent any long-term complications.

Keywords: medical students, online learning, sleep quality