Journal of Global Research in Education and Social Science

Background: Academic performance of medical students is greatly affected by many factors, including lifestyle factors. There are gap of knowledge in Saudi literature about this important issue.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the impact of lifestyle factors on the academic performance among the medical students at Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Taibah College of medicine, Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The study recruited all medical students registered during the study year 2013/14. A self-administered electronic questionnaire was completed by 556 students during the month of May 2014. The questionnaire included data related to socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors and academic performance data in terms of grade point-averages (GPA). The data were analyzed by appropriate statistical tests and p value ≤ 0.05 was used as statistically significant difference.

Results: The response rate was 92.6% (556 out of 600 students). Academic level of the studied students as well as their social status has appeared to influence the students' GPA. The high academic performance was observed among 1^stgrade and single students. Of the studied lifestyle factors, smoking, energy drinks, and studying habit were the most factors determining the academic performance. GPA > 4.5 was found in 37.5% of students reported studying > 6 hours a day, and in 38.8% among students studying alone. Also, students with > 4.5 GPA were none smokers (37.1%) and not reported energy drinks (40.2%). Sleeping time at the exam night was the most important sleeping related factors affected students GPA, where 60.0% of students with GPA > 4.5 reported to sleep > 6 hours at exam night.

Conclusion: The study suggested some lifestyle factors to affect GPA among medical students. The faculty administration has to spread these findings to the students to improve their academic performance.