Relationship between sleep habits and academic performance in university Nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Sleep disorders are composed of a group of diseases of increasing prevalence and with social-health implications to be considered a public health problem. Sleep habits and specific sleep behaviors have an influence on the academic success of students. However, the characteristics of sleep and sleep habits of university students as predictors of poor academic performance have been scarcely analyzed. In the present study, we aimed to investigate sleep habits and their influence on academic performance in a cohort of Nursing Degree students. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional and observational study. An anonymous and self-administered questionnaire was used, including different scales such as the 'Morningness and Eveningness scale', an author-generated sleep habit questionnaire, and certain variables aimed at studying the socio-familial and academic aspects of the Nursing students. The association of sleep habits and other variables with poor academic performance was investigated by logistic regression. The internal consistency and homogeneity of the 'sleep habits questionnaire' was assessed with the Cronbach's alpha test. RESULTS: Overall, 401 students (mean age of 22.1 ± 4.9 years, 74.8 % females) from the Nursing Degree were included. The homogeneity of the 'sleep habits questionnaire' was appropriate (Cronbach's alpha = 0.710). Nursing students were characterized by an evening chronotype (20.2 %) and a short sleep pattern. 30.4 % of the Nursing students had bad sleep habits. Regarding the academic performance, 47.9 % of the students showed a poor one. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, a short sleep pattern (adjusted OR = 1.53, 95 % CI 1.01-2.34), bad sleep habits (aOR = 1.76, 95 % CI 1.11-2.79), and age < 25 years (aOR = 2.27, 95 % CI 1.30-3.98) were independently associated with a higher probability of poor academic performance. CONCLUSIONS: Almost 1/3 of the Nursing students were identified as having bad sleep habits, and these students were characterized by an evening chronotype and a short sleep pattern. A short sleep pattern, bad sleep habits, and age < 25 years, were independently associated with a higher risk of poor academic performance. This requires multifactorial approaches and the involvement of all the associated actors: teachers, academic institutions, health institutions, and the people in charge in university residences, among others.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Homebound Nursing Students.

University students are predisposed to stress, which could be even higher in Nursing students since they are directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic given their health training and area of knowledge. Our purpose was to assess the stress levels of Nursing students before and during lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Murcia (Spain), its influence on taking an online exam and how it was affected by physical exercise. This was an observational and prospective study including Nursing students from the second year of the Nursing Degree from 3 February to 23 April 2020. Three measurements were performed: one before lockdown and two during lockdown. Stress increased substantially during lockdown. Financial, family or emotional problems, as well as physical exercise, also increased. Indeed, at 40 days of lockdown, those students with financial, family or emotional problems, and less physical exercise reported significantly higher stress levels. In addition, those who passed the online exam had lower stress levels compared to those who failed. In conclusion, during lockdown, stress in Nursing students increased. This could be triggered by students' personal problems, and physical exercise may be used as a way to reduce stress. Academic performance was better in those students reporting less stress.

Effectiveness of music therapy and progressive muscle relaxation in reducing stress before exams and improving academic performance in Nursing students: A randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students experiencing high stress levels before exams could suffer worse academic performance. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated an intervention combining Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) and music therapy on the decrease of before exams stress and the improvement of academic results. DESIGN AND METHODS: Randomized controlled trial including students from the Nursing Degree during the first semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. All participants were randomized to the control (CG) or the experimental group (EG). The CG took the exam as usual whereas in the EG, PMR and music therapy were performed before exams. Blood samples were drawn to investigate variations in biochemical parameters. The academic performance was assessed by the score obtained in the "Clinical Nursing" exam. RESULTS: We included 112 students (75% females, mean age 24.3 ±â€¯6.2 years, 56 students in every group). There were no differences in any parameter during the first measurement. Regarding the second measurement, we observed a reduction in heart rate for the EG and an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol for the CG. Indeed, these parameters were significantly higher compared to the EG. The EG had a mean score of 5.07 ±â€¯1.59 in the Clinical Nursing exam, which was significantly higher compared to the CG (4.42 ±â€¯1.58, p = 0.033). The proportion of fails in the CG was also higher (62.5% vs. 42.9%, p = 0.037). CONCLUSION: In this study including students from the Nursing degree, the combination of PMR and music therapy was effective for the control and decrease of stress before exams, and also demonstrated improvements in academic results.

Reliability and validity of the student stress inventory-stress manifestations questionnaire and its association with personal and academic factors in university students.

BACKGROUND: Stress affects us in every environment and it is also present in the educational sphere. Previous studies have reported a high prevalence of stress in university students. The Student Stress Inventory-Stress Manifestations (SSI-SM), identify stressors and evaluate stress manifestations in adolescents but its validity in university students remains uncertain. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the internal consistency and validity of an adapted version of the Student Stress Inventory-Stress Manifestations (SSI-SM) for university students and to investigate if high stress levels are associated with personal and academic factors. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study, we included 115 university students of the Nursing Degree during the second semester of the 2014/2015 academic year. Information about personal issues, lifestyle and academic performance was recorded and the stress was evaluated with the SSI-SM questionnaire. The internal consistency and homogeneity of the SSI-SM questionnaire was tested and a factorial analysis was performed. RESULTS: After the homogeneity analysis, the final version of the SSI-SM questionnaire included 19 items, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.924. In the factorial analysis, 4 factors were found ('Self-concept', 'Sociability', 'Uncertainty' and 'Somatization'; all Cronbach's alpha >0.700). Students with higher values on the SSI-SM were, in overall, women (41.0 ±â€¯12.7 vs. 33.2 ±â€¯9.5; p = 0.001) and had significantly more family conflicts (47.6 ±â€¯13.8 vs. 35.2 ±â€¯9.6; p < 0.001), consumed less alcohol (R = -0.184, p = 0.048), slept less hours (R = -0.193, p = 0.038) and had worse academic performance in Clinical Nursing (36.3 ±â€¯10.4 vs. 41.2 ±â€¯13.3, p = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS: After exclude three items of the original SSI-SM, higher scores in the SSI-SM are correlated with stress level in a cohort of university students of the Nursing Degree. Family conflicts, female gender, absence of alcohol consumption, few sleep hours and poor academic performance are associated with higher stress levels.

Dietary habits of patients with schizophrenia: a self-reported questionnaire survey.

The present study was carried out to determine the dietary habits of patients with schizophrenia and the influence of these habits on the degree of obesity. The study was developed in a sample of 159 patients, who were given a self-reported questionnaire, to ascertain the influence of socio-familiar aspects, pharmacological treatment, and dietary habits. Anthropometric measurements (body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC)) were also taken. Patients with schizophrenia presented unhealthy dietary habits, as indicated by the finding that 51% of the patients took no longer than 15 min to eat, 40.8% did not eat fruit daily, and 63.1% did not eat fish. Women were three times more likely to be obese than men (odds ratio (OR) = 2.91, P = 0.021). Patients classified as having unhealthy dietary habits have a 2.33-fold higher risk of obesity than patients with good dietary habits (OR = 2.33, P = 0.034). In summary, this paper highlights the fact that patients with schizophrenia have a detrimental dietary pattern that is associated with an increase in BMI and WC, with the consequent development of obesity and related metabolic alterations, regardless of the pharmacological treatment being followed. Future research directions will include exploring the need for nutritional education programmes to improve the dietary habits of such patients.

Influencia de las condiciones medio ambientales en la tolerancia al Ocígeno en animales de experimentación / Influence of the environmental conditions in the oxygen toxicity

INTRODUCCIÓN:La toxicidad del oxígeno está condicionada por la presiónp arcial del gas y el tiempo de exposición al mismo, además de otros factores invariables o variables. Nuestro objetivo es determinar el rango de humedad relativa en una atmósfera hiperóxica y normobárica par que la tolerancia al oxígenos sea mayor. MÉTODO: Se realizaron 3 grupos de experimentación que se introdujeron en a cámara con la atmósfera deseada. El grupo 1 respiró oxígeno húmedo (humedad <50%)(n=27). el grupo 2 (humedad <50%)(n=22). el tercer grupo fue el control (humedad ambiental)(n=11). durante todo el experimento se toma registro de la concentración de O2, CO2, humedad, temperatura, flujo, presion de la botella y la sintomatología clínica asociada al consumo de O2. RESULTADOS: Los sujetos del grupo control presentaron una supervivencia media de 103.18+/-40,32 horas, superior a los otros dos grupos siendo el grupo húmedo el que menos supervivencia media presentó con 87,27+/-34,36 horas, siendo estas diferencias significativas (p=0,01). Las lesiones más graves aparecen en el grupo húmedo y seco. CONCLUSIONES:Estos datos indican que humedades relativas comprendidas entre 30%-60% son las óptimas para disminuir el riesgo de presentar un cuadro de intoxicación por oxígeno bajo condiciones de hiperoxia normobárica

INTRODUCTION:The oxygen toxicity is conditioned by the partial pressure of the gas and the time of exposure, besides other invariable or variable factors. Our objective is to determine the interval of relative humidity ina hyperoxic and normobaric atmosphere so that the tolerance of the oxygen is bigger. METHOD: 3 experimentation groups of rats were introduced in the chamber with the normobaric and hyperoxic atmosphere. Group 1 breathed humid oxygen (humidity>50%) (n=27). Group 2 (humidity <50%)(n=22). the third group was the control (environmental humidity)(n=11). the following data were written down. concentration of O2, CO2, humidity, temperature, flow, pressure of the bottle and the clinical symptomatologic which is associated with the consumption of CO2. RESULTS: The average survival of the control group was of 103.18+/-40.32 hours, it´s higher than the other two groups. The humid group has the survival the lowest survive rate of 87.27+/-34.36 hours, these differences are significant (p=0.01). the most serious injuries appeared in the humid and dry groups. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that relative humidy between 30%-60% are recommended in order to decrease the risk of an oxygen toxicity ina hyperoxic normobaric atmosphere