Association of Sleep Duration and Quality With Health-Related Quality of Life in Fresher University Students

Background and Objective Sleep duration and quality are important factors for health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed at investigating the association of sleep duration and quality with HRQoL in fresher students of Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences. Methods The study included 471 fresher students. The sleep duration and sleep quality were measured with the Persian version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the HRQoL was evaluated with the Persian version of the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12). The data were collected from late September to early October in 2019 and 2020. The multiple linear regression model was used to determine the independent association of sleep duration and quality with HRQoL. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The mean age of the participants was 21.8 ± 6.0 years and the majority of them (62.4%) were female. The total HRQoL score and the prevalence of poor sleep quality were 81.6% and 28.0%, respectively. Among the students, 51.8% and 6.4% reported a sleep duration shorter than 7 hours and equal or more than 9 hours, respectively. The multiple linear regression model showed that excessive sleep duration (≥ 9 h) and sleep quality were associated with Mental Component Summary (MCS) and total HRQoL, respectively (p = 0.036, p = 0.018). Conclusions Referring to the results, enough and quality sleep has beneficial effects on HRQoL in students. Therefore, future strategies should be developed to improve sleep and consequently HRQoL among university students.