The Relationship Between Circadian Rhythm with Academic Performance, Stress, Anxiety and Depression Among Students of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences

Type of circadian rhythm and also recovery after illness are important to keep individuals healthy. Mental health is an important factor in educational progression of students, so the purpose of present study was to investigate the relationship between Circadian rhythms with Academic Performance, stress, anxiety and depression of students.

Present research is a cross-sectional study conducted on 322 students of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences in 1396. The instruments used were demographic questionnaire, Morningness Eveningness Questionnaire and DASS-21. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test and Pearson correlation using SPSS version 16 software.

Results indicated majority of students (82.6%) had a balanced rhythm in terms of circadian rhythm. Also, most of them had a moderate level of stress, anxiety and depression.The results of pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant relationship between circadian rhythms with stress (P = 0.004) and depression (P=0.007), while between the circadian rhythms with academic performance (P=0.61) and anxiety (P=0.19) were not statistically significant.

According the correlation between circadian rhythm with scores of stress and depression of students, necessity of planning and paying more attention to the educational and extracurricular programs is suggested.