Sleep patterns, hygiene and daytime sleepiness among adolescent school-goers in three districts of Tamil Nadu: A...

Sleep is important for the growth, development and good health of adolescents. We assessed sleep patterns, hygiene and daytime sleepiness among school-going adolescents in 3 districts of Tamil Nadu.

We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 538 school-going adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17 years, from 8 schools in 3 districts of Thiruvallur, Thiruppur and Namakkal selected through multistage sampling. A questionnaire with items focusing on demographic details, sleep patterns, sleep hygiene behaviour and daytime sleepiness was given to the students for self-administration after obtaining informed consent from their parents and school authorities.

Over 64% of adolescents sleep <8 hours at night with 5.6% sleeping <6 hours. About 48% of adolescents suffered from prolonged sleep-onset latency and about 43% had interrupted sleep. Over 64% of adolescents watched television (TV) in bed and >23% reported use of mobile phone in bed. About 64% of adolescents had at least one form of poor sleep hygiene behaviour. Decreasing age (0.7; 95% CI 0.582-0.843), studying while lying in bed (1.72; 95% CI 1.009-2.942), greater time gap between dinner and bedtime (0.795; 95% CI 0.650-0.972), staying awake late in the night and chatting on mobile phone (2.24; 95% CI 1.266-3.978) and watching TV (3.41; 95% CI 2.037- 5.722) significantly influenced excessive daytime sleepiness.

A large proportion of adolescent students have abnormal sleep patterns and sleep hygiene behaviours. There is a need for concerted sleep-related education at the school level.