[Sleep and fine motor skills: the influence of sex and level of physical activity]. / Son i tonkaya motorika: vliyanie pola i urovnya dvigatel'noi aktivnosti.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of sleep quality on psychophysiological testing results and autonomic state in university students of both sexes with different habitual physical activity level. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty-four 6th year medical students (88 women and 36 men) and 80 sport science students (42 women and 38 men) underwent a comprehensive psychophysiological study, including 7 tests: simple motor reaction, choice reaction, reaction under conditions of interference, reaction to a moving object, critical fusion frequency, as well as static and dynamic (by profile) dexterity tests. Autonomic status was assessed using heart rate variability, sleep quality and alertness were assessed based on self-report, and in athletes, using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Questionnaire (PSQI). RESULTS: In the male athletes' group with morning chronotype the sleep quality was better than in medical students. Only female medical students demonstrated a deterioration in praxis with an increase in the severity of evening features in the chronotype and a decrease in self-assessment of sleep quality. Increased sleepiness in the first half hour after awakening significantly reduced the quality of performance of psychometric tests in all subjects. The most informative was critical fusion frequency, which was lower in girls with «poor¼ sleep, as well as the reaction to a moving object. In addition, sympathetic drive was increased in female medical students with poor self-rated sleep quality. CONCLUSION: A decrease in the quality of sleep in students causes fine motor impairment, mediated by sex, the level of habitual physical activity and circadian chronotype.

[Psychosocial factors influencing the dynamics and sleep quality in medical students]. / Psikhosotsial'nye faktory, vliyayushchie na dinamiku i kachestvo sna studentov meditsinskogo vuza.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the dynamics and sleep quality in medical students during 2005-2009 years and evaluate possible factors influencing this process. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 2788 medical 1st, 4th and 6th year students (1919 girls, 869 young men). All participants underwent comprehensive psychophysiological testing. Self-reported questionnaire containing 45 questions about sleep quality, sleep hygiene, chronotype, behaviour was administered. Five hundred and seventeen girls and 260 young men were studied twice. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: During 14 years, a negative sleep quality trend was observed in university students of all groups. The poor sleep group in 2019 consisted of 12.0-13.4% of girls and 8.2-18.4% of young men. About half of students have rated their own sleep as good (48.9-58.3% of girls and 52.2-55.4% of young men). From the first up to last semester of the study sleep quality is getting worse. The prospective analysis revealed the greater negative prognostic impact of self-reported poor sleep on academic performance in girls compared with young men. In the 4th year of the study, there were many poor-sleepers of both genders required more years of study for successful academic achievement. Students reported poor sleep were more activated and performed psychometrical tasks faster. Sleep quality, especially in girls, was significantly correlated with 19 psychosocial factors. The reliable marker of poor sleep may be feeling of lack of time both in girls (r= -0.32, p<0.01; r= -0.29, p<0.01; r= -0.22, p<0.05, respectively) and young men (r= -0.21, p<0.05; r= -0.34, p<0.01; r= -0.27, p<0.05, respectively) in their 1st, 4th and 6th study year, and the consequence was the slower transition to active functioning in the morning and lower health self-evaluation.