Sleep Quality and Academic Performance Among University Undergraduates in Sri Lanka

Sleep quality is a fundamental determinant of cognitive performance, emotional regulation, and overall well-being, yet it remains an under-explored factor in the academic success of Sri Lankan university undergraduates. This study examines the relationship between sleep quality and academic performance within this population, incorporating socio-cultural and contextual perspectives relevant to Sri Lankan higher education. A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed, and data were collected from 45 undergraduate students drawn from an accessible population of approximately 150 students across multiple faculties. Participants were recruited using a stratified convenience sampling approach. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess sleep quality, while academic performance was measured using self-reported Grade Point Average (GPA) and subjective academic ratings. De-scriptive statistics were used to summarise participant characteristics, and Spearman’s rank-order correlation analysis was conducted to examine associations between sleep variables and academic outcomes. The results indi-cated a statistically significant positive correlation between sleep duration and GPA (ρ = 0.933, p < 0.001), and between subjective sleep quality and GPA (ρ = 0.617, p < 0.001). However, the magnitude of the association be-tween sleep duration and GPA should be interpreted with caution given the small, context-specific sample and reliance on self-reported measures, which may introduce common method bias and inflate observed relationships. Overall, better sleep patterns were associated with higher academic performance within the study sample. The findings are broadly consistent with global literature emphasising the importance of adequate and high-quality sleep for academic functioning, while also reflecting contextual influences such as academic pressure, lifestyle de-mands, and environmental factors among Sri Lankan undergraduates. The study concludes that sleep quality is an important behavioural factor associated with academic performance. Future research should employ larger, more representative samples, objective sleep measures, and longitudinal designs to strengthen causal inference and gen-eralisability of findings.