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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Polysomnographic sleep parameters in young adult males with poor subjective sleep quality: A cross-sectional comparative study against normative values

Tarushi Tanwar1* ,  Mosab Aldabbas2,3 ,  Iram Iram4 ,  Zubia Veqar4*
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1 Department of Physiotherapy, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India
2 Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al-Azhar University, Gaza, Palestine
3 Department of Physiotherapy, International Committee of the Red Cross, Gaza, Palestine
4 Centre for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
Advanced Neurology, 8614 https://doi.org/10.36922/an.8614
Received: 20 January 2025 | Revised: 7 July 2025 | Accepted: 1 August 2025 | Published online: 25 August 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Sleep quality significantly affects cognitive capacities, metabolic functions, and overall well-being in young adult males. However, most studies on sleep disruption in this population rely on self-reported surveys rather than objective assessments, limiting understanding of actual sleep architecture. This cross-sectional comparative study aimed to examine polysomnographic sleep characteristics of young adult males with poor subjective sleep quality compared to established normative values of healthy groups. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index, and polysomnography (PSG) was conducted in a controlled laboratory environment. Comprehensive sleep parameters analyzed included total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), sleep onset latency (SOL), rapid eye movement (REM) onset latency (ROL), wakefulness (WK), and sleep stages N1, N2, N3, and REM sleep. Independent t-tests were used for PSG data comparison. The study found that young adult males with poor subjective sleep quality had significantly lower TST (t = −7.04, p<0.001), WK (t = −2.721, p=0.01), N2 (t = −5.993, p<0.001), and REM sleep (t = −21.532, p<0.001). Conversely, SE (t = 19.50, p<0.001), SOL (t = 4.75, p<0.001), ROL (t = 3.61, p=0.001), N1 (t = 18.98, p<0.001), and N3 (t = 11.119, p<0.001) were significantly higher. These findings indicate that young adult males with poor subjective sleep quality exhibited significantly different architecture. Notably, their high SE despite perceived poor sleep highlights a discrepancy between subjective perception and objective sleep metrics.

Keywords
Sleep
Polysomnography
Young adult male
Sleep quality
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Advanced Neurology, Electronic ISSN: 2810-9619 Print ISSN: 3060-8589, Published by AccScience Publishing
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