Sleep habits among Greek university students

Background: Sleep problems are common among young adults, especially university students who experience great psychological pressure due to the changes in career market and increased unemployment. Objectives: The aim of the study was to examine sleep habits and sleep problems of university students and to compare sleep of medical students to that of students of other faculties. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Students from different academic levels and faculties completed self-report, anonymous questionnaires. Results:A total of 309 students (47% males) from different faculties (33.5% medicine) were recruited (20.5 ±2 years).Reported mean duration of night sleep during weekdays was 6.6±1.4h, but during weekends 8.6± 1.9 (p<0.001). During the examinations period sleep duration was 6.4±1.7h. Only 39 (13%) students were working and 16 (41%) of them had a night shift. 18% were smokers, 76.4% drunk coffee to 'wake them up when sleepy' (1.3±1.2 cups) and 28 (9.1%) consumed alcohol to help them sleep when they had problems. 84% considered their sleep quality adequate, but 76.3% reported daytime sleepiness and 94% that their sleep duration was inadequate. Thinking of economic problems and economic crisis caused problems in the sleep of 11%. Snoring was reported in 21% (66.1% males) and sleeptalking in 23.6%.Sleep duration was shorter in medical students compared to other students in weekdays(5.7±0.9 vs 7.1±1.4, p<0.001) and during examinations (5.9±1.6 vs. 6.7±1.7, p=0.001). Conclusions: Among university students sleep duration is short especially in medical students and the majority believes that more sleep would be necessary.