Abstract
Background: Research on how sleep affects academic performance in literature is not well represented, especially when it comes to students from South Africa. Medical students have been the focus of this type of research due to their heavy workload and academic stress. Chiropractic students in South Africa have a similar workload and degree of academic stress, which makes them ideal candidates for this study. Aim: The primary aim of the study was to determine the relationship between sleep and academic performance of chiropractic students at the University of Johannesburg. The secondary aim was to determine the difference the BHSc chiropractic students, and the 1st Year MHSc chiropractic students in their sleep habits. An additional tertiary aim was focused on the different effects of sleep quantity, sleep quality and circadian rhythms on academic performance of the Chiropractic students being surveyed. Method: This was a cross-sectional, quantitative exploratory study, done with the use of an online survey. The sample students were invited via email to complete an online survey which determined their sleep habits, academic performance, and other miscellaneous factors. The platform for the online survey was Google Forms. The survey was formulated with the assistance of the University of Johannesburg STATKON. Procedure: The survey was distributed via email to all the BHSc Chiropractic and 1st Year MHSc Chiropractic students enrolled at the University of Johannesburg, by requesting the class representatives to distribute the survey. The email contained a link that directed the participants to the Google Forms survey. This platform automatically recorded the data that participants entered. Results: The primary findings of this study revealed that sleep influenced academic performance. Three sleep factors were found that could possibly influence academic performance. The first one being sleep quality, second sleep quantity and third chronotype. A good sleep quality revealed better exam results, an increase in sleep quantity revealed better exam results and a morning type chronotype revealed better exam results. The comparisons between groups revealed little information due to the way the survey was constructed. Conclusion: Sleep quantity showed more of an effect on academic compared to sleep quality, which was unexpected. The morning type chronotype seems to be favoured over evening type chronotype with regards to improved academic performance, although further research should be done on this topic.