Résumé
Background: College students experience a number of sleep problems, which may impact academic performance, health, and mood. A common sleep problem among college students is sleep deprivation and resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness [EDS]
Objective: To identify the relationship between sleep and academic performance of female students
Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was done in Al-Maarefa colleges during the time of 2015 to 2016. Information on sleep period and quality was collected by a self-administered questionnaire distributed on a sample of 150 students
Main findings: Almost 71% of the students felt tired many times a week and felt sleepy during the day. Moreover, 87% of the students felt sleepy in lectures long time within the week. 68% of the students had 3.1-4 GPA on the preparatory year, and only 35% of the students had 6-8 hours of the sleep per day. A strong relation was found between sleep hours on exam days and last GPA [p= 0.005]. Another relation was found between sleep hours on weekdays and the last GPA [p=0.04]
Conclusion: the data collected showed a high prevalence of insufficient sleep hours generally, and on nights before the exam specifically and a strong relationship between exam day sleeping hours and the final GPA. The average GPA is still high compared to the preparatory year GPA, even when the number of sleeping hours declined compared to a preparatory year