The silent crisis: the dual burden of sleep disturbances and mental health in professional graduate students

Sleep disturbances and mental health issues are common amongprofessional graduate students. This study investigated theprevalence of functional sleep problems and the relationship betweengraduate students’ sleep quality and mental health. 90 professional graduate students from Physical and OccupationalTherapy programs participated. Data were collected anonymously using SurveyMonkey. Sleep quality wasassessed using the self-reported Functional Outcomes of SleepQuestionnaire (FOSQ-10), which evaluates five subscales: generalproductivity, activity, vigilance, social outcomes, and intimacy. Mental health was evaluated using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale(DASS-21), which includes stress, anxiety, and depression subscales.Higher FOSQ scores indicated better sleep quality, while higherDASS-21 scores reflected greater mental health issues. 84.27% (n = 75) of students reported experiencing functional sleepissues. A significant negative correlation was found between sleepscores and stress (ρ = -0.489, p < .001), anxiety (ρ = -0.453, p < .001), and depression (ρ = -0.604, p < .001). The results suggest a high prevalence of sleep disturbances amonggraduate students, with poor sleep quality associated with increasedstress, anxiety, and depression. Interventions targeting sleep mayimprove mental health outcomes.