Does sleep quality and stress levels differ between college student athletes compared to non-athletes?

The main goal of this study was to examine if sleep quality and stress levels differed between university student athletes and non-athletes and whether there was a gender difference. Sleep is an important factor for health and decreased sleep quality can alter everyday function and have negative effects on students. Mental health issues like stress has been a raising problem among the student population. More research is needed on this topic to clearly identify what factors are important to university students. A questionnaire was sent to all students registered at the University of Reykjavik whereof 801 students answered the questionnaire. To measure sleep quality the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used and to measure stress the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used. The results of the study showed that student athletes had better sleep quality than non-athletes. Both female athletes and non-athletes reported having higher stress levels than male athletes and non-athletes. Keywords: College student athletes, college students, sleep quality, stress level.Markmið þessarar rannsóknar var að kanna hvort streita og svefngæði séu mismunandi milli háskólanema sem æfa íþróttir og þeirra sem æfa ekki íþróttir. Svefn gegnir mikilvægu hlutverki í okkar daglega lífi og geta léleg svefngæði haft alvarleg áhrif á líf háskólanema. Einnig er andleg heilsa vaxandi vandamál meðal háskólanema. Fleiri rannsóknir á þessum sviðum eru nauðsynlegar til að sjá betur hvaða þættir það eru sem eru að hafa áhrif á háskólanema. Spurningalisti var sendur til allra háskólanema í Háskólanum í Reykjavík, þar af bárust svör frá 801 nemendum. “The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)” spurningakvarðinn var notaður til að meta svefngæði og “The Perceived Stress Level (PSS)” til að meta streitu þátttakenda. Niðurstöður leiddu í ljós að svefngæði meðal háskólanema sem æfðu íþróttir voru betri en meðal þeirra sem ekki æfðu íþróttir. Einnig sýndu niðurstöður að kvenmenn, hvort sem þær voru íþróttmenn eða ekki, sýndu meiri streitueinkenni en karlar. Lykilorð: Háskólanemar, íþróttamenn, svefngæði, streita