How Sleep Quality Affects Postural Control?

Objective: We aimed to investigate how sleep quality affected postural control in medical and dental students. Methods: One hundred twenty eight volunteer students with right hemispheric dominance participated in the study. Participants were divided into good and poor sleep quality groups based on their Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores. A force platform was used for bipedal balance analysis. Participants were asked to remain upright and motionless on the platform and their body oscillations were recorded for 30 seconds in this position. Balance analysis was performed in two conditions, with eyes open and closed. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the demographics of the two groups. The PSQI medians of the good and poor sleep quality groups were 4 (minimum: 1, maximum: 4) and 7 (minimum: 5, maximum: 14), respectively. In the open-eye test, no significant difference was found between the two groups in any of the data. In the test performed with the eyes closed, the deviation of the center of pressure on the Y-axis and the force transferred to the anterior part of the foot on the left side were higher in the group with poor sleep quality. Parallel to this, the force transferred to the posterior part of the foot on the left side was also lower in the same group. Conclusion: Sleep quality did not affect balance with eyes open, but negatively affected balance with eyes closed. The balance of force transferred to the non-dominant foot of the group with poor sleep quality was impaired.