The Effect of Nutrition and Sleep quality on the Learning Efficiency of the Evaz City Universities students in 2017

Introduction: Physical and mental health depend on nutritional status and sleep quality. The effect of Proper nutrition, especially adequate energy and essential nutrients intake as well as having enough sleeping time on the learning process is very significant. The aim of this study was exploring the effect of nutrition and sleep quality on the learning efficiency of the Evaz city university’s students in 2017 Materials and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 140 female students of Payam e Nour, Azad University, and Evaz health faculty. In this study, cluster random sampling was performed. The data gathering tools in the present study included a questionnaire of academic performance which comprised 9 questions with a score 9 to45 and, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) included 11 questions with a maximum score of 44 and minimum of 11 and finally nutrition questionnaires including food groups (Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, Proteins, Cereals, Dairy products, Legumes and snacks) with 8 questions and a score of 8 to 32. In order to analyze the correlation of the study factors Pearson or Spearman correlation test was used based on the data normality. The significance level was set at less than 0.05. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS software (version 22).Results: The average age of the volunteers was 23.5 years. The median of the nutritional score in the study participants was 21 (11-29). A significant correlation was observed between the amount of snacks consumption and total learning score (P=0.02). In addition, an increase of fruits intake was significantly correlated with higher learning score (P=0.05). The results of sleep questionnaires showed that the delay in sleeping time had a significant and reverse correlation with the focus capability and total learning score (P=0.02). Having disturbed sleep (e.g. nightmare) was nearly associated with lower ability to concentrate on lectures in the classroom (P=0.05). Eventually, with the increase in total sleep scores both in quantity and quality, the learning capability was improved significantly (P<0.001).Conclusion: based on our results, higher fruits consumption and having well sleep time could have a favorable effect on learning efficiency

Keywords:

Nutrition , Sleep , Learning , Fruits