Background

Students with poor sleep quality will undoubtedly disturb their daily activities, such as being absent from lectures due to illness and falling asleep during lectures. A further impact of poor sleep quality is decreased student academic achievement.

Objectives

To analyse the relationship between sleep hygiene and the prevalence of insomnia in medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara.

Material and methods

The research design was analytic with a cross-sectional approach. The study population was medical students in clinical clerkships, which amounted to 152 people using consecutive sampling methods. The data was collected using a Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) questionnaire, conducted online via Google Forms. Data processing was carried out using SPSS and the Chi-square statistical test.

Results

Most students, as many as 101 people (66.4%), had moderate sleep hygiene, and most students were without insomnia (approx. 61.8%). The results of the Chi-square test bivariate analysis showed a relationship between the degree of sleep hygiene and the prevalence of insomnia in the medical students of Universitas Sumatera Utara.

Conclusions

Students are exposed to psychological impacts that can affect the quality of their sleep. Sleep hygiene and sleep cycles in students change due to changes in daily activities, such as physical activity, class schedules, assigned tasks and the use of electronic equipment.