The relationship between sleep and academic performance among multiple health care training programs

Sleep is linked with better academic performance in pharmacy and optometry students. No study was found that compared sleep and academic performance among students of different health care professions, nor any studies evaluating physician assistant students.

To evaluate the relationship between sleep quality and quantity on memory retention and academic performance among students in health care professions.

Marshall B. Ketchum University (MBKU) offers programs for Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), Doctor of Optometry (OD), and Master's in Physician Assistant Studies (PA). Students filled out a cross-sectional survey about quality of sleep, quantity of sleep, and quantity of caffeine consumed, which were compared with GPA and memory retention. GPA was self-reported. Memory retention was assessed using quiz-style questions drawn from mandatory first-year coursework in ethics and public health.

The sample (N = 108) consisted of 50 OD students, 46 PharmD students, and 12 PA students. Memory retention negatively correlated with caffeine consumption during a typical weekday and during a typical weekend. Students who slept more the night before participating in this study earned higher scores on the memory retention task, regardless of how many years ago they took these classes. Drinking more caffeine during the weekends was correlated with lower GPA.

Because students who slept more on the night before taking the study demonstrated superior memory retention, we recommend that students obtain adequate sleep before an examination. Weaknesses of the study include possible bias or inaccuracy in self-reported data, and the retrospective design cannot demonstrate causation.