Isra Medical Journal

Title:

Correlation of serum cortisol with sleep habits and daytime sleepiness of young adults

Authors:

Ayyaz Ahmed Bhatti, Zeeshan Ahmed Qureshi, Jawaria, Naima Umar, Rabea Nasir, Umar Ali Khan

Published on:

2019-08-31

Journal Reference:

Volume 11 - Issue 4 July - August 2019

Pages:

208-212

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DOI:

ABSTRACT

Objective: To assess the sleep habits and daytime sleepiness of medical students and to relate these to their serum cortisol.

Study Design: Cross-sectional observational study

Place and Duration: Department of Physiology, Islamic International Medical College Rawalpindi and Railway General Hospital Rawalpindi from 1^st March 2010 to 28^th February 2011

Methodology: Sixty MBBS students, equally from both genders were randomly selected from first year and final year class. Their age, weight, sleep habits, exercise, nap/week and daytime sleepiness were find out through sleep questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale. Blood samples for serum cortisol was taken at 9:00am

Results: Out of 60 students, sleep duration of 13.33% of students was less than 6 hrs. 16.67% of the students were having daytime sleepiness. Daytime sleepiness was more in female students (26.67%). Female students (76.67%) had more than 3 naps/week. Dreams remembering was more in 66.67% in male students as compared to female students (46.67%). Serum cortisol was 307.8 pg/ml in students having daytime sleepiness as compared to students having no daytime sleepiness (248.8 pg/ml. Daytime sleepiness and weight of the students was positively correlated to the serum cortisol levels.

Conclusion: Daytime sleepiness is more in female students resulting in more naps/week as compared to male students. Male students with better sleep at night has more dream remembering as compared to female students. Serum cortisol, a stress marker is raised in students with daytime sleepiness.

Keywords: Medical students, Sleep habits, Daytime sleepiness, Cortisol, Serum cortisol, Epworth scale

How to Cite This:

Bhatti AA, Qureshi ZA, Jawaria, Umar N, Nasir R, Khan UA. Correlation of serum cortisol with sleep habits and daytime sleepiness of young adults.Isra Med J. 2019; 11(4): 208-212.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.