A Study of Possible Sleep Deprivation in Medical Students.

Abstract

Two hundred medical students were investigated for possible sleep deprivation using questionnaires. The use of drugs in form of stimulants, use of sleeping pills, and the nature of hostel space accommodation for the students were also investigated. A similar sizeable number of non-medical students were also investigated. The results show that the medical students have far less sleep per night, compared to the non-mdeical students while in session. This obviously is indicative of sleep deprivation in the medical students. There was nothing in the results to suggest possible contributions to the observed scarcity of sleep in the medical students from use of stimulants or the nature of hostel space accommodation. Only a very small proportion of the students use sleeping pills.

Keywords: Sleep, deprivation, medical students.

Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol. 6 (2) 2007: pp. 78-81