Is a Lack of Sleep Causing Poor Performance in Your Pharmacy?

Sleep plays a significant role in the normal functioning of the human body. It is vital in health, cognition, and emotion and may affect learning and memory. Generally, sleep is considered to provide optimal benefits only in sufficient amounts, with either a lack or excess of sleep potentially posing risks.

Insufficient sleep is defined as sleeping less than the 7 to 8 hours recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society for Optimal Health. Insufficient sleep is an issue prevalent in more than 30% of the American population, with some instances classified as a disorder and referred to as insufficient sleep syndrome.

Insufficient sleep is prevalent among pharmacy students, and college students more generally, with studies showing that many pharmacy students in the didactic portion of the academic curriculum suffer from poor quality sleep.⁵ This is further exacerbated at specific periods during the semester as a majority obtain fewer than the recommended 7 hours of sleep, especially close to an examination.