Abstract
Background: Sleep is a recurring state of relaxation that is characterized by an altered state of consciousness, with inhibited sensory activity, and muscular inhibition. With sleep the brain can have good attention which is very important for daily activity. Good quality of sleep can get better results in a wide variety of aspects like good quality work performance, less mistakes, no stress, enjoying ones' own daily routine. With low sleep hours, performance in ones' own duties can decline.
Aim: To estimate prevalence and association between sleep, stress, and physical activity among medical students in southern region, KSA.
Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional approach was used targeting all accessible students. A descriptive Cross-sectional questionnaire survey was used. Study setting: The study was conducted in southern region, KSA. Study population: all male and female medical students in southern region, Saudi Arabia. Sampling technique: Multi-stratified Results: The study included 490 medical students whose ages ranged from 17 to 28 years old with mean age of 22.7 +/- 1.7 years. Male respondents were 256 (52.2%) and 310 students (63.3%) were in the clinical grades (4th -6th) and 49 (10%) were interns. Exactly 351 students (51.2%) reported that their sleep quality is either bad or fairly bad. As for perceived stress level among the medical students (Table 3), low stress level was diagnosed among 67 (13.7%) students, moderate stress among 355 (72.4%) students while 68 (13.9%) students had a high stress level. Considering physical activity pattern, Table 4 demonstrates that 291 (59.4%) students never practice vigorous sports while 51 (10.4%) practice it for 4-7 days per week.
Conclusions: In conclusion, the study revealed that students had poor sleep hygiene, high stress, and improper practice of physical activity.