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Sleep quality during exam stress: the role of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine - PubMed

  • ️Wed Jan 01 2014

Comparative Study

Sleep quality during exam stress: the role of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine

Matthias Zunhammer et al. PLoS One. 2014.

Abstract

Academic exam stress is known to compromise sleep quality and alter drug consumption in university students. Here we evaluated if sleeping problems and changes in legal drug consumption during exam stress are interrelated. We used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to survey sleep quality before, during, and after an academic exam period in 150 university students in a longitudinal questionnaire study. Self-reports of alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine consumption were obtained. The Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-20) was used as a measure of stress. Sleep quality and alcohol consumption significantly decreased, while perceived stress and caffeine consumption significantly increased during the exam period. No significant change in nicotine consumption was observed. In particular, students shortened their time in bed and showed symptoms of insomnia. Mixed model analysis indicated that sex, age, health status, as well as the amounts of alcohol and caffeine consumed had no significant influence on global sleep quality. The amount of nicotine consumed and perceived stress were identified as significant predictors of diminished sleep quality. Nicotine consumption had a small-to-very-small effect on sleep quality; perceived stress had a small-to-moderate effect. In conclusion, diminished sleep quality during exam periods was mainly predicted by perceived stress, while legal drug consumption played a minor role. Exam periods may pose an interesting model for the study of stress-induced sleeping problems and their mechanisms.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Histogram of time-points of acquisition.

Participants were recruited in winter semester 2011 and summer semester 2012. Lecture periods within these semesters were 17. Okt.2011-11. Feb.2012 and 16. Apr.2012–21. Jul.2012.

Figure 2
Figure 2. PSQI global scores plotted against consumed amounts of alcohol (2a), caffeine (2b), and nicotine (2c), as well as PSQI global scores plotted against perceived stress (2d) within the last week.

Perceived stress and the amount of nicotine consumed were identified as significant predictors of PSQI global score. Alcohol and caffeine did not predict PSQI global score significantly.

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Grants and funding

Author MZ was supported by a scholarship of the German National Merit Foundation (http://www.studienstiftung.de/). This research received no other specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.