Why Sleep When You Can Study? Sleep Habits of Nursing and Radiologic Science Students

Many nursing and radiologic science students spend a large amount of their time studying. While studying frequently can improve grades and provide preparation for future careers, it is important to remember to get adequate amounts of rest--especially sleep. Sleep is a state of decreased consciousness in which the nervous system is nearly completely inhibited, postural muscles are relaxed, and interaction with surroundings is limited. How do nursing and radiologic science students find balance between sleeping and studying? What is the quality of sleep obtained by these students? Nursing and radiologic science students proceed through multiple levels of clinical rotations. Could one clinical level be different from another in terms of sleep? Could one campus be different from another? Could there be a difference between BSN and ASN programs?

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the amount and quality of student sleep and the amount of time spent studying by nursing and radiologic science students. By using the SLEEP50 Survey, we also explored how many clinical students were “at risk” for one or more types of sleep disorders and whether this relationship had an impact on the students' GPA. 

The SLEEP-50 is a self-administered questionnaire about the intensity of a person's subjective sleep complaints with nine subscales: Sleep apnea (items 1-8); Insomnia (items 9- 16); Narcolepsy (items 17-21); Restless Legs I Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD) (items 22-25); Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder (items 26-28); Sleepwalking (items 29-31); Nightmares (items 32-36); Factors influencing sleep (items 37-43); and the Impact of sleep complaints on daily functioning (items 44-50). The SLEEP-50 checks for sleep-complaints with the subscales of items 1-36 and detects daily functioning limitations with the items 44-50. Each item is scored on a four-point scale of the intensity during the last four weeks: 1 (not at all), 2 (somewhat), 3 (rather much), and 4 (very much) (Spoormaker et. al, 2005).

This information was collected from all clinical levels of nursing and radiologic science students from the Shreveport, Natchitoches, Alexandria and Leesville campuses of Northwestern State University.