This is a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based, observational study carried out in spring 2009 among undergraduate students enrolled at An-Najah National University/Nablus. Association between self-reported sleep quality and self-reported academic achievement was also investigated. The aim of this study was to describe sleep habits and sleep problems in a population of undergraduates in Palestine. Such factors do not seem to be present in many countries especially the western countries were most sleep studies have been carried out. In Palestine, where the study took place, the devastating political and military conflict, future insecurity and poverty are expected to affect sleep quality adversely. Sleep habits were defined as that behavior pertaining to time to bed, time to rise, drinking coffee at night, duration of night sleep and consumption of sleeping pills. For the purpose of this study, sleep problems were defined as any difficulty in falling asleep or failure to maintain sleep due to noise, nocturnal eating or snoring. No previously published studies have assessed sleep pattern and sleep problems in undergraduate population in the Middles East. Frequent changes in the sleep-wake schedule was also found to adversely affect sleep and general health, including decreased sleep quality, altered sympathetic activity, increased risk of cardiovascular events, and reduced cognitive performance. Sleep deprivation has been reported to cause deleterious effects on medical students. In fact, the quality and quantity of sleep of many students might change after enrollment into a university. Such stress and anxiety can lead to sleep problems. Today's university students experience great psychological pressure due to the changing career market and increased competition for jobs. Most studies have focused instead on young children, older adults or on a certain category of patients. However, little research has focused on this group of individuals.
Sleep disorders among university full-time students who are experiencing high levels of stress because of the demands of academic performance is an important topic for investigation. It is believed that disturbances in sleep are associated with poor social performance and various somatic and psychiatric disorders. For example, a study examined differences in sleep complaints among adolescents from nine ethno-cultural groups found that European and American youths were significantly at higher risk of insomnia compared to Chinese Americans after adjusting for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Prevalence of sleep problems vary based on ethnic and cultural beliefs.