Sleep quality and anxiety among medical students as a challenge for the education system
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34767/SZP.2025.02.11Keywords:
anxiety, higher education, students, meta-worry, sleep qualityAbstract
Mental health problems represent an increasing societal challenge. Due to high academic demands and emotional strain, medical students constitute a group particularly vulnerable to elevated levels of stress and anxiety, which may adversely affect their sleep quality. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between specific dimensions of anxiety and subjective sleep quality in this population. A correlational study was conducted with a sample of 78 medical students (70.5% female), aged 20 to 27. Participants were recruited using the snowball sampling method. Wells’ Anxious Thoughts Inventory was used to measure the intensity of anxiety, while the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was employed to assess sleep quality. The analysis revealed statistically significant positive correlations between lower sleep quality and all three dimensions of anxiety. Significant relationships were found between sleep quality and worry about social evaluation (ρ = 0.33, p = 0.003), worry about health (ρ = 0.298; p = 0.008), and meta-worry (ρ = 0.42; p < 0.001).
References
Bagrowski, B. (2022). Stres, aktywność fizyczna i jakość snu a pamięć prospektywna i retrospektywna u studentów kierunków medycznych. Polskie Forum Psychologiczne, 27(1).
Borbély, A.A. (1982). A two process model of sleep regulation. Human Neurobiology, 1(3).
Bush, BJ., Donnay, C., Andrews, E.A., Lewis-Sanders, D., Gray, C.L., Qiao, Z., Brager, A.J., Johnson, H., Brewer, H.C.S., Sood, S., Saafir, T., Benveniste, M., Paul, K.N., Ehlen, J.Ch. (2022). Non-rapid eye movement sleep determines resilience to social stress. eLife, 11, e80206.
Ciechanowska, K., Litwic-Kaminska, K., Demski, M. (2024). Rola płci, doświadczeń związanych z pandemią i jakości snu w wyjaśnianiu poziomu lęku przed COVID-19 u studentów polskich uczelni wyższych. Szkoła–Zawód–Praca, 27
Dudo, K., Ehring, E., Fuchs, S., Herget, S., Watzke, S., Unverzagt, S., Frese, T. (2022). The association of sleep patterns and depressive symptoms in medical students: a cross-sectional study. BMC Res Notes, 15.
Hodges, W.F., Felling, J.P. (1970). Types of stressful situations and their relation to trait anxiety and sex. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 34(3).
Hooten, W.M. (2016). Chronic pain and mental health disorders: shared neural mechanisms, epidemiology, and treatment. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 91(7).
Huang, B.H., Duncan, M.J., Cistulli, P.A., Nassar, N., Hamer, M., Stamatakis, E. (2022). Sleep and physical activity in relation to all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality risk. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 56(13).
Johannes, C.B., Le, T.K., Zhou, X., Johnston, J.A., Dworkin, R.H. (2010). The prevalence of chronic pain in United States adults: results of an Internet-based survey. The Journal of Pain, 11(11).
Kandel, E.R, Schwartz, J.H., Jessell, T.M., Siegelbaum, S.A., Hudspeth, A.J. (2012). Principles of neural science. McGraw-Hill Education.
Keefe, F.J., Rumble, M.E., Scipio, C.D., Giordano, L.A., Perri, L.M. (2004). Psychological aspects of persistent pain: current state of the science. The Journal of Pain, 5(4).
Kowalczyk, M., Karbownik, M.S., Kowalczyk, E., Sienkiewicz, M., Talarowska, M. (2021). Mental health of PhD students at polish universities-before the Covid-19 outbreak. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22).
Lecca, R., Figorilli, M., Casaglia, E., Cucca, C., Meloni, F., Loscerbo, R., De Matteis, S., Cocco, P., Puligheddu, M. (2023). Gender and nightshift work. A cross sectional study on sleep quality and daytime somnolence. Brain Sciences, 13(4).
Limanówka, P., Szczuraszyk, A., Laska, J., Łacwik, J., Kuca, J., Kasperczyk, J. (2024). Correlation between anxiety, depression and excessive daytime sleepiness and selected lifestyle elements of medical students in Poland. Neuropsychiatria i Neuropsychologia, 19(1–2).
Longstaff, A. (2011). Neuroscience. Garland Science.
Makieła, M., Marcinowicz, P., Więdłocha, M., Szulc, A. (2024). Mind matters: Decoding mental health in medical students. Psychiatria i Psychologia Kliniczna, 24(2).
Massaly, N., Copits, B.A., Wilson-Poe, A.R., Hipólito, L., Markovic, T., Yoon, H.J., Liu, S., Walicki, M.C., Bhatti, D.L., Sirohi, S., Klaas, A., Walker, B.M., Neve, R., Cahill, C.M., Shoghi, K.I., Gereau, R.W., McCall, J.G., Al-Hasani, R., Bruchas, M.R., Morón, .A. (2019). Pain-induced negative affect is mediated via recruitment of the nucleus accumbens kappa opioid system. Neuron, 102(3).
Palagini, L., Baglioni, C., Ciapparelli, A., Gemignani, A., Riemann, D. (2013). REM sleep dysregulation in depression: state of the art. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 17(5).
Piotrowski, K., Centka, P., Cholewińska, A., Jasiek, N., Mencel, A., Ziółkowska, J., Cisłak--Wójcik, A. (2024). Analiza badań nad zdrowiem psychicznym i jakością życia w środowisku akademickim. Uniwersytet SWPS, Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego.
Pizuńska, D., Golińska, P.B., Małek, A., Radziwiłłowicz, W. (2021). Well-being among PhD candidates. Psychiatria Polska, 55, 4(1).
Schipper, S.B.J., Van Veen, M.M., Elders, P.J.M., van Straten, A., Van Der Werf, Y.D., Knutson, K.L., Rutters, F. (2021). Sleep disorders in people with type 2 diabetes and associated health outcomes: a review of the literature. Diabetologia, 64(11).
Seow, L.S.E., Tan, X.W., Chong, S.A., Vaingankar, J.A., Abdin, E., Shafie, S., Chua, B.Y., Heng, D., Subramaniam, M. (2020). Independent and combined associations of sleep duration and sleep quality with common physical and mental disorders: Results from a multi-ethnic population-based study. PLOS One, 16(7).
Spielberger, C.D. (1966). Theory and research on anxiety. Anxiety and behavior. Academic Press.
Spoormaker, V.I., van den Bout, J. (2006). Lucid dreaming treatment for nightmares: a pilot study. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 75(6).
Suh, S., Cho, N., Zhang, J. (2018). Sex differences in insomnia: from epidemiology and etiology to intervention. Current Psychiatry Reports, 20(9).
Sun, H., Li, Z., Qiu, Z., Shen, Y., Guo, Q., Hu, S.-W., Ding, H.-L., An, S., Cao, J.-L. (2023). A common neuronal ensemble in nucleus accumbens regulates pain-like behaviour and sleep. Nature Communications, 14(1).
Sykut, A., Ślusarska, B., Jędrzejkiewicz, B., Nowicki, G. (2017). Sleep disorders as a common social problem – selected determinants and health consequences. Pielęgniarstwo XXI wieku, 16(2).
Wciórka, J., Leciak, J., Rawska-Kabacińska, A., Suchecka, E., Świtaj, P., Stefanowski, B., Stokwiszewski, J. (2021). EZOP II: rozpowszechnienie zaburzeń (kiedykolwiek w życiu, ostatnie 12 miesięcy, ostatni miesiąc). Konferencja podsumowująca projekt EZOP II. Warszawa, 15–16 listopada 2021, Instytut Psychiatrii i Neurologii.
Wells, A. (2010). Terapia poznawcza zaburzeń lękowych. Praktyczny podręcznik i przewodnik po teorii. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Wells, A.M., Ridener, E., Bourbonais, C.A., Kim, W., Pantazopoulos, H., Carroll, F.I., Kim, K.S., Cohen, B.M., Carlezon Jr, W.A. (2017). Effects of chronic social defeat stress on sleep and circadian rhythms are mitigated by kappa-opioid receptor antagonism. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(31).
Yong, R.J., Mullins, P.M., Bhattacharyya, N. (2022). Prevalence of chronic pain among adults in the United States. Pain, 163(2).
Ziopaja, N. (2022). Samopomocownik. Pielęgnuj swoje zdrowie psychiczne. Znak.
