Balancing Minds: The Combined Impact of Sleep Quality and Perceived Stress on Cognitive Flexibility in College Students

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18195041

Sagarika Debroy and Joydeep Roy Chowdhury (Department of Psychology, ICFAI University, Tripura)

In modern higher-educational contexts, college students are faced with the growing academic pressure that is accompanied by changes to their lifestyles that precondition the proliferation of stress and sleeping disorders. This study examines the conjoint effects of sleep quality and perceived stress on cognitive flexibility, which is a critical executive function that supports adaptive reasoning and problem solving. Based on a quantitative correlational paradigm, 200 college students were surveyed by the use of three highly validated measures, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the Cognitive Flexibility Scale. The results indicate strong correlations, as the lower the sleep quality and the higher the perceived stress, the lower the cognitive flexibility. The hierarchical regression analysis has shown that sleep quality explains 20.3% of the variance in cognitive flexibility; the addition of the perceived stress increases the explained variance to 33.7%. The two variables predict cognitive flexibility independently, though perceived stress has an extra negative influence on it when compared to sleep quality. These findings underscore the importance of managing sleep hygiene and stress levels concurrently as a strategy for strengthening cognitive flexibility in groups of university students. The study supplements the understanding of the combination of physiological and psychological stressors to influence the executive functioning and highlights areas of focus on specific interventions that can be applied to improve academic performance and psychological well-being.