Comparisonof Sleep Quality in ActiveandInactive Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iran

Background: sleep quality is one of the factors affecting the health and performance of students. the current study aimed to compare sleep quality between active and inactive students during the covid-19 pandemic in iran.methods: in a cross-sectional study, 386 students (182 females; 144 males) studying in the persian gulf university voluntarily participated for 2 months in 2020. we used the petersburg sleep questionnaire (electronically through university emails) to collect data. results: female students scored lower than male students in sleep duration (p = 0.002). physically active students scored lower than physically inactive students in sleep quality (p = 0.003), sleep disturbances (p = 0.015), and daytime dysfunction (p = 0.005). physically active female students obtained significantly lower scores in sleep quality (p = 0.002) and daytime dysfunction (p = 0.003) than physically inactive female students. also, physically active male students obtained significantly lower scores than inactive male students on the subscales of sleep disturbances (p = 0.005) and the use of sleeping medication (p = 0.021). conclusions: physical activity can play an important role in improving the sleep quality of students, and it should be emphasized during the restrictions imposed by epidemics.