Sleep and its relation with academic performance among adolescents: An analytical cross sectional study in Gulshan Town, Karachi

To determine the prevalence of sleep patterns and their relationship with academic performance among adolescents. The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from March to August 2015 in Gulshan Town of Karachi and comprised students in grades 6 to 8 who were selected from six government and private schools. Data was collected regarding their sleeping time, wake-up time, sleep latency and total sleep duration. Paediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale was administered to calculate daytime sleepiness. Academic performance of students was taken from school academic records. Data was analysed using SPSS 22. Of the 440 subjects, 234 (53.2%) were boys and 206 (46.8%) were girls. The overall age range was 11-16 years. A total of 280 (63.6%) students had abnormal sleep patterns, 182(41.4%) suffered from daytime sleepiness, 41 (9.3%) had abnormal sleep latency and 201 (45.7%) scored below 60% in their exams. Among poor sleepers, 157 (56.1%) scored below 60% in their exams. More than half the subjects were found to be sleeping less than required, which eventually affected their academic performance.