Association between war-induced stress and sleeping patterns of university students in Sudan, 2025
This 2025 cross-sectional study of 922 Sudanese university students reveals a significant association between war-induced stress and clinical insomnia, particularly among females and those displaced from their homes, highlighting the urgent need for targeted mental health support in conflict zones.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
The Invisible Backpack and the Broken Alarm Clock
Imagine your brain as a super-sensitive security system. Usually, it's great at spotting real danger, like a barking dog or a slippery sidewalk. But sometimes, when life gets really chaotic—like during a war or a massive family crisis—this security system gets stuck in "high alert" mode. In the world of science, we call this stress. It's not just feeling "busy"; it's when your brain thinks the pressure is so heavy that your usual coping tools (like taking a deep breath or asking for help) aren't enough anymore.
When this alarm system won't shut off, it often breaks your sleep. Think of sleep as the nightly maintenance crew that comes in to fix your brain's circuits, clean up the day's mess, and recharge your batteries. If stress keeps the lights on all night, the maintenance crew can't do their job. You end up with insomnia, which is like trying to run a marathon with a broken shoelace: you're tired, you're struggling, and you can't get anywhere fast.
Why does this matter? Because sleep isn't just about feeling groggy; it's the foundation of your mental health. If you can't sleep, your mood, your ability to learn, and your ability to handle the next day's problems all start to crumble. This is especially true for students, who are already juggling heavy backpacks of homework and exams. Now, imagine adding the weight of a war on top of that. That's the story this paper is trying to tell.
The Story of the Sudanese Students: When War Keeps You Awake
In 2025, a team of researchers decided to peek behind the curtain of the ongoing conflict in Sudan to see how it was affecting the sleep and stress levels of university students. They didn't just ask, "Are you tired?" They used two special "rulers" to measure exactly how heavy the stress was and how broken the sleep patterns had become. One ruler, called the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), measures how overwhelmed people feel. The other, the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), measures how bad the sleep trouble is.
They asked 922 students, mostly between the ages of 17 and 35, to fill out a questionnaire. The results painted a picture that was both heartbreaking and fascinating.
The Heavy Load
First, the stress was real and heavy. The average stress score was 29.8, which is considered moderate to high. But the sleep situation was even more concerning. The average insomnia score was 14.0. To put that in perspective, the researchers found that nearly half of the students (49.1%) were suffering from clinical insomnia. That means almost one in two students was struggling with sleep problems severe enough to be a medical diagnosis. Only about 17.5% of the students were sleeping without any significant trouble.
The Gender Gap
The study found a clear difference between boys and girls. Female students, who made up about 76.7% of the group, reported significantly higher stress and worse sleep than their male classmates. It's as if the invisible backpack of war was just a bit heavier for them.
The Paradox of the Bomb
Here is where the story gets a little weird. The researchers expected that students who had been directly near bomb explosions would have the worst sleep. But the data showed something surprising: students who had been directly exposed to bomb explosions actually had lower insomnia scores than those who hadn't. The authors suggest this might be a strange kind of "toughening up" or resilience, or perhaps just a statistical quirk because very few people in the study had actually been near a bomb (most, 83.3%, had never seen one). However, moving away from home was a different story. Students who had to leave their family homes (emigration) reported much higher stress and worse sleep. It seems that the act of fleeing and the uncertainty of a new place was more damaging to sleep than the fear of the explosion itself.
Money, Food, and Loss
The study also looked at how the war's side effects changed things. Students who faced severe economic trouble or malnutrition had worse sleep. Interestingly, the amount of money a student had didn't seem to change their stress levels much. The researchers think this is because in Sudan, even people with money often have to send it to family members stuck in the war zones, so having cash doesn't necessarily make you feel safer.
One of the saddest findings was about loss. Students who had lost a relative or a close friend to the war had significantly higher insomnia scores. The grief seemed to keep the alarm clock ringing all night.
The Connection
The biggest takeaway is that stress and insomnia are holding hands. The more stress a student felt, the worse their sleep was, and the worse their sleep was, the more stressed they felt. It's a vicious cycle. The study suggests that if you want to help a student feel less stressed, you might need to help them sleep first.
Who Needs Help?
The researchers concluded that while everyone is struggling, certain groups need extra attention: female students, those who have been forced to move (internally displaced), and those who have lost loved ones. They also noted that because the war has destroyed many mental health clinics, the solution might need to be creative—using online support groups and community help to reach students who can't get to a doctor.
In short, the war in Sudan isn't just shaking the ground; it's shaking the very foundation of how students rest and recover. The study suggests that to heal the mind, we first need to help the students close their eyes and finally, truly, sleep.
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