Chronotype, sleep quality and academic performances among Mizo students

ABSTRACT

Sleep is an essential component of the daily cycle. Age and puberty-related declines in sleep duration, delays in chronotype, and an increase in social jet lag have been consistently reported. This study examined chronotype and gender-based differences in adolescents’ sleep quality, depression level, and academic achievements. Eight hundred fifteen school students (372 male and 443 female) aged 14 to 20 years voluntarily participated in this study. Horne and Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) was used to measure their chronotype. Sleep duration, sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness were assessed by the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Pittsburgh’s Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate sleep habits. Cleveland Adolescent Sleepiness Questionnaire (CASQ) was used to measure the sleep pattern of the students. Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) was used to assess the level of depression for the students. Our results show neither type of students dominated the population studied but interestingly, in comparison to evening type, morning type individuals were higher among the population. Chronotype-based sleep quality and academic performances were observed, and higher depression levels, poor sleep quality, poor academic performances were observed in evening type compared to neither type and morning type. In contrast to males, females had a poor sleep pattern (CASQ) and a higher depression level (SDS). Altogether, our study shows the effect of chronotype and gender on sleep quality and depression levels among school students.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• MEQ
• daytime sleepiness
• depression
• academic performances

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi (No. Adhoc/131/2019/HSR). Funding from the Department of Science and Technology under the DST-FIST program to the Department of Zoology, Mizoram University is greatly acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors contribution

AKT conceived the idea. LJ collected and analyzed data. AKT and LJ wrote the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi [Adhoc/131/2019/HSR].