A public health view and comparison between online and on-campus learning to evaluate sleep and mental health among undergraduate students

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic changed people's lives. The majority had to adapt to working online including students. The shift to online learning caused serious sleep and mental health issues among students. This study aimed to examine the variations between the prevalence of sleep and mental health problems among undergraduate students during the periods of online learning and on-campus learning. Method: An online survey was distributed to medical students in Saudi Arabia. Results: A total of 110 participated in the study (age = 21 +/- 1.4 years). The on-campus anxiety (8.2 +/- 6.3) was significantly higher than online anxiety (5.5 +/- 5.1). On-campus daytime sleepiness (8.5 +/- 4) was significantly higher when compared to online daytime sleepiness (6.7 +/- 4.6). Although not significant, the on-campus stress (7.7 +/- 5.7) and insomnia (12 +/- 7.3) were higher than online stress (6.9 +/- 5.5) and insomnia (11.5 +/- 6). The online depression (6.6 +/- 5.7) was higher than the mean on-campus depression (5.8 +/- 5.4). A significant strong positive correlation was found between on-campus anxiety and on-campus stress. A significant moderate positive correlation was detected between on-campus anxiety and on-campus daytime sleepiness. A weak but significant correlation was found between on-campus anxiety and on-campus insomnia. On-campus anxiety was significantly predicted by the following model, which included on-campus stress, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness (P < .001). Conclusion: Medical students reported lower anxiety, daytime sleepiness, stress, and insomnia during their online learning compared to on-campus learning. Only depression was higher during online learning compared to on-campus learning.