Sleep Hygiene and Happiness Levels of University Students Studying in Health-Related Departments

Abstract

This study was planned in a descriptive and cross-sectional design to explore the sleep hygiene and happiness levels of university students studying in health-related departments and associated factors. The sample of the study comprised of 362 registered students at the Vocational School of Health Services between 1 and 30 January 2019, in the fall semester of 2019-2020. The "Descriptive Information Form" including socio-demographic characteristics and habits, the "Sleep Hygiene Index" and the "Oxford Happiness Questionnaire" were used to collect data. SPSS 21.0 program was used in the statistical analysis of the data. Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum and percentage parameters were used in the distribution of the data. In this study, data were distributed normally, so parametric tests were used for statistical analysis. Student t-test was used for two independent variables and the One Way Anova test was used for more than two independent variables. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationships between parameters. The study revealed that 80.9% of the students in the study were female, 62.2% lived in a state dormitory, 78.7% did not smoke, 60.5% slept an average of 6-8 hours a day, and 91.2% had no chronic disease. The mean Sleep Hygiene Index scores of smokers, men, those who studied in the anesthesia program, those stayed in the state dormitory, those who drunk caffeinated beverages after 18:00, those who slept for 8 hours or more, and those who woke up unrefreshed were found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05). It was also observed that those who woke up refreshed had a significantly higher level of happiness (P < 0.05).