| dc.description.abstract | A quality sleep is crucial for the academic performance, psychological wellbeing and overall health of undergraduates. Since nowadays unhealthy dietary habits such as skipping
meals, snack overconsumption and nocturnal eating are quite common, this study aimed
to determine the association between sleep quality and meal pattern of undergraduates.
An institutional-based cross-sectional study was carried out among undergraduates (n
= 165) of BCAS Campus, Colombo 03. A self-administered questionnaire developed
based on Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and meal pattern questionnaire was used
for data collection. Global PSQI and meal pattern score (MPS) were computed. The
level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The mean ±SD of the age of the
participants was 23.68 years ±5.70. There were 53.3% (n = 88) of females and 46.7%
(n = 77) of males. The mean ±SD of the hours of sleep was 6:16 hrs ± 1:23 and the
mean ±SD of Global PSQI Score was 7.04 ± 3.17. Sleep disturbances were less commonly
observed. Usual bedtime after 2300 hrs and academic year were significantly associated
with global PSQI score (p < 0.05). A weak, positive correlation (r = 0.115, p > 0.05)
was observed between global PSQI and MPS. However, regression analysis revealed that
this association (β = 0.149, p < 0.05) was not significant. The undergraduates showed a
reasonable meal pattern and there was no significant association between sleep quality
and the meal pattern. However, despite differences in gender, academic year and courses,
they exhibited poor sleep based on overall Global PSQI Score indicating the need of
addressing the problem of poor sleep among undergraduates. | |
