Virginia Research Day 2021

Student Research Educational

06 The Effect of Sleep and Sleep Training on Wellness and Performance of Medical School Students

John Yassa, OMS II; Michael Yusuf, OMS II; Scott Severance, PhD Corresponding author: jayassa@liberty.edu

Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Medical school education is arduous and places future physicians in a position where they seemingly and consistently must sacrifice certain self-care practices in order to keep up with their academic demands. Medical students experience increased mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression throughout their schooling. Published research demonstrated that medical students who had consistent and earlier bedtimes tended to perform better academically, in addition to reporting decreased psychological distress. We designed a sleep study in an attempt to answer the following two questions: Is there a healthy way for medical students to implement sleep habits that accommodate their demanding daily routines? Will a consistent sleep schedule improve sleep quality, affect academic performance, and reduce anxiety and depression? Participants were organized into the following four groups: OMS-1 experimental and control groups and OMS-2 experimental and control groups.

Participants in each group viewed a short training video recorded by the students conducting this study. The experimental groups received information from previously published research emphasizing the importance of maintaining an early and consistent bedtime, presenting evidence that better sleep leads to better academic outcomes, and showing that poor sleep quality is predictive of depressive symptoms among medical students. Lastly, tips on establishing a consistent and healthy bedtime routine were provided. The control groups did not receive this information and were given only information about sleep that was similar to what they received in orientation to medical school. Participants are asked to complete sleep diaries five days each week (Mon-Fri) for eight weeks. To document the subjects’ wellbeing, the Beck Depression Index and the Beck Anxiety Index are being administered once a month. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index is given once a month to determine sleep quality over the previous four weeks. The participants' grades will be reviewed in a de-

identified manner to look for any connection between sleep and academic performance. Lastly, subjects will be administered a short survey at the end of the study soliciting their views on the effect the sleep training had on their sleep quality, wellbeing, and academic performance. We are currently collecting data with 76 participants. We expect that our experimental groups will institute proven sleep practices and that following these practices will increase test scores and wellness, but this remains to be seen.

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