The effect of chronotype (morningness/eveningness) on medical students' academic achievement in Sudan

Aug 23, 2019Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences

How Being a Morning or Evening Person Relates to Medical Students’ Grades in Sudan

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Abstract

Medical students averaging a C grade exhibited a more evening chronotype than those averaging an A grade (p < 0.05).

Students with lower academic performance tended to go to bed later on both weekdays and weekends.
Significant differences in sleep duration were observed, with C grade students sleeping more during weekends.
Weekday sleep latency and wake-up lag between weekdays and weekends were also significantly different between the two groups.
No significant differences were found in weekday wake-up times, overall sleep duration, or chronotype variations by gender.

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OBJECTIVES: There is increasing awareness about the effects of circadian misalignment on health and work. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of chronotype on academic achievement among medical students.

METHODS: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted among 140 medical students (64 who averaged an A grade and 76 who averaged a C grade) completing the clinical phase at the medical college of Omdurman University, Sudan. The participants were asked to sign a written informed consent and to keep a diary detailing their bedtime, wake-up time, sleep latency, and sleep duration during working days and weekends. Then, the participants were invited to respond to a questionnaire. The chronotype was calculated from the mid-sleep time during the weekend and sleep debt. Various sleep parameters were then compared between the two groups. A t-test and logistic regression analysis were used to test the statistical significance.

RESULTS: The medical students with average grades were more of the evening chronotype than the students with excellent grades ( < 0.05). Significant differences were found between the two groups regarding weekend bedtime, wake-up time, and sleep duration. In addition, significant differences were evident for weekday bedtime, sleep latency, and wake-up lag between weekdays and weekends. No differences were observed between the two groups during weekday wake-up time and sleep duration, chronotype between gender, and bedtime delay between weekdays and weekends ( > 0.05). p p

CONCLUSION: Students whose average grade was a C were more likely to have a later bedtimes during weekdays and weekends, sleep more during weekends, and were more evening.

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The effect of chronotype (morningness/eveningness) on medical students' academic achievement in Sudan

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