{"id":295,"date":"2021-09-12T16:14:14","date_gmt":"2021-09-12T16:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.248.19.11\/rpfc\/?p=295"},"modified":"2021-09-12T19:28:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-12T19:28:45","slug":"students-in-the-university-of-colombo-have-high-stress-levels-possibly-because-they-are-not-sleeping-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/192.248.19.11\/rpfc\/2021\/09\/12\/students-in-the-university-of-colombo-have-high-stress-levels-possibly-because-they-are-not-sleeping-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Students in the University of Colombo have high stress levels possibly because they are not sleeping enough!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thakshila YS1<\/sup>, Suraweera C2<\/sup>
\n1<\/sup>Department of Allied Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
\n2<\/sup>Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

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University education represents a specific chapter of an individual which is not only limited to studying and passing exams. It consists of learning activities extending through a wide spectrum of independent decision making and collaborative work. The University is the place where the students meet people of different cultures, attitudes and personalities and start to function as independent individuals.<\/p>\n

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Starting university education \u2013 a stressful period<\/strong><\/p>\n

Students in their first year of university, popularly known as \u2018freshers\u2019 often have to adapt to a new lifestyle in a whole new environment. This could be quite stressful for these individuals because of all the learning, examinations, peer pressure and living away from the protective environment of the family. Significant psychological distress among first year undergraduates may also be expected due to a switch in teaching – learning methods from school education to university education, thereby leading to changes in their academic performance. Often students struggle with time management while adapting to the new environment. It is common for many to compromise their sleep in order to fulfill their activities, especially their studies. [1] Poor sleep is a predictive symptom of illness which could be a primer to reduced quality of life. Therefore, sufficient and restorative sleep is very important in maintaining mental and physical wellbeing. [2] (Figure 1) There is a strong relationship between quality of sleep, stress and coping strategies and it has been shown that selection of coping strategies is affected by the quality of sleep both directly and indirectly.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1 Importance of good night sleep<\/em><\/p>\n

A study to assess sleep and stress<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A cross sectional study was conducted among 200 first year students from five selected faculties of the University of Colombo. The students were very interested in participation and participated voluntarily with informed consent. A self-administered questionnaire was given to them which contained well known study tools such as the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Depression Stress Anxiety Scale-21(DASS 21) and brief COPE inventory.<\/p>\n

Our findings showed that\u2026<\/p>\n