SRINAGAR: A study of undergraduate medical students in three government medical colleges in Kashmir has found that irregular sleep patterns are widespread, with two-thirds of students going to bed after midnight and late bedtime emerging as an independent predictor of poor sleep quality. The researchers found that students who slept after midnight had 5.49 times higher adjusted odds of reporting poor sleep quality, while difficulty taking longer to fall asleep was also independently associated with poor sleep quality.
The study, titled Sleep pattern among Undergraduate Medical Students of Various Medical Colleges of Kashmir, examined the self-reported sleep habits of 73 undergraduate medical students from Government Medical College Srinagar, Government Medical College Baramulla and Government Medical College Anantnag. The research was conducted in September 2024 using an analytical cross-sectional design and a structured, pilot-tested online questionnaire.
Of the 73 participants, 56, or 76.7 per cent, were female and 17, or 23.3 per cent, were male. The mean age was 22 years, with participants ranging from 18 to 26 years.
The most striking finding concerned bedtime. Forty-nine students, or 67.1 per cent of the sample, reported going to bed after midnight, compared with 24 students, or 32.9 per cent, who went to bed before midnight. More than half of the participants, 39 students or 53.4 per cent, said they woke after 8 am, while 30 students, or 41.1 per cent, woke between 6 am and 8 am. Only four students, or 5.5 per cent, reported waking before 6 am.
The study also found that most students reported sleeping between five and eight hours a night. This category accounted for 62 of the 73 participants, or 84.9 per cent. Eight students, or 11 per cent, reported sleeping for more than eight hours. Daytime sleeping was also common: 48 students, or 65.7 per cent, reported taking naps, while 25, or 34.2 per cent, said they did not.
The researchers found a statistically significant relationship between late bedtime and poor sleep quality. Students who went to bed after midnight had a higher prevalence of poor sleep quality than those with earlier bedtimes, with the association producing a p-value of 0.017. Sleep latency, the time taken to fall asleep, showed an even stronger statistical association with poor sleep quality, with a p-value of 0.004.
When the researchers adjusted the significant variables through multivariable logistic regression, late bedtime continued to emerge as an independent predictor. Students sleeping after midnight had an adjusted odds ratio of 5.49, with a 95 per cent confidence interval of 1.47–20.54 and a p-value of 0.011. The study also identified prolonged sleep latency as an independent predictor, reporting an adjusted odds ratio of approximately 0.03, with a 95 per cent confidence interval of 0.003–0.30 and a p-value of 0.003.
The researchers noted that sleep duration itself did not remain statistically significant after adjustment for other factors. This led them to argue that simply measuring how many hours students sleep may not adequately capture the quality of their sleep. Difficulty initiating sleep and the timing of sleep appeared to be more important indicators in this cohort.
The study found no statistically significant association between gender or other demographic characteristics and sleep quality.
The researchers also reported widespread irregular sleep-hygiene patterns, particularly delayed bedtimes and daytime napping. They said such irregular sleep-wake schedules may affect attention, memory consolidation and academic performance even when overall sleep duration appears adequate. The study further discussed electronic-device use, physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles as potentially relevant behavioural factors, although these were not identified as independent predictors in the multivariable analysis.
The paper argues that late-night screen exposure, irregular routines and academic demands may contribute to delayed sleep timing and difficulty initiating sleep. However, these factors should be distinguished from the study’s principal statistical findings: the analysis specifically identified late bedtime and prolonged sleep latency as independent predictors of poor sleep quality.
The researchers say the study is significant because published evidence on sleep behaviour among undergraduate medical students in Kashmir is limited. They describe the work as a student-initiated research effort that provides region-specific data on sleep timing, duration, latency and daytime napping.
At the same time, the authors caution against generalising the findings too broadly. The sample consisted of only 73 students and was obtained through convenience sampling. The cross-sectional design means the study can identify associations but cannot establish causation. The researchers also relied on self-reported questionnaire responses and did not assess potentially important confounders such as academic stress and mental-health status or use objective sleep measurements such as actigraphy or polysomnography.
The authors conclude that irregular sleep is common among the medical students studied and that sleep timing and behavioural sleep practices matter beyond total sleep duration. They recommend targeted sleep-hygiene education, regular sleep schedules and behavioural interventions, while calling for larger, multicentre and longitudinal studies using objective assessments of sleep.
The study was authored by Dr Abdul Hamid Dar, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Baramulla; Saliha Farooq, Internee, Government Medical College Baramulla; Wahida Nisar, Internee, Government Medical College Baramulla; and Dr Zahid Ali Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Baramulla, who is also the corresponding author.
The paper was published in the Journal of Chemical Health Risks (JCHR) (volume 16, issue 2) in 2026. The research was conducted as part of a Student Initiative Research project during an elective posting in the Department of Community Medicine.
