Morningness-eveningness Preferences among Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Morningness and eveningness is a phenomenon which looks at the differences among the individuals regarding their diurnal preferences, sleep-wake pattern of activity and alertness in evening or morning. Morning chronotypes are individuals who exhibit morning tendencies like rising early in the morning while evening chronotypes prefer to get up later in the morning and stay awake later at night time and also perform their best during late afternoon or evening. Morning chronotypes are known to exhibit better physical and mental health, greater self-esteem and academic performance.

Aim: To estimate the prevalence of morningness and eveningness among medical students. Association of chronotype with academic performance was also determined.

Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 110 apparently healthy medical students at Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College, Nalhar, Haryana, India from October 2021 to January 2022. All the participants were sent a validated Morningness-Eveningness self-assessment Questionnaire (MEQ). Data of chronotypic preferences expressed as frequencies of participants (%) and association determined using Pearson’s Chi-square test and p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Study revealed that 67 (61%) students belonged to the Intermediate (I) chronotype, around one-fourth {26 (24%)} were Morning (M) type while 17 (15%) were Evening (E) type. Morningness was more frequently reported by females as compared to males in 8 (28%) vs. 18 (22%), respectively. Higher scores (≥50%) were more prevalent among M types as compared E types in 10 (38%) vs. 3 (18%), respectively}; however, association between chronotype and academic performance could not reach significant level (p-value=0.15).

Conclusion: The distribution of chronotypes in study sample provided the evidence that majority of students could be classified as intermediate type. Morningness was more frequent in females as compared to males. Further studies with large sample size are needed to explore the influence of chronotype on academic performance