Sleep Quality, Declarative Memory, and Academic Achievement among Students Enrolled in Anatomy-based Programs

The hippocampus, a central medial temporal lobe structure, underpins declarative memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval – core processes required for learning in anatomy-based programs. Sleep is essential for hippocampal-dependent memory stabilization; however, sleep disruption is common among university students engaged in cognitively demanding training. This study investigated whether sleep quality is associated with declarative memory performance and academic achievement in students enrolled in anatomy-based programs. This 2025 cross-sectional study included 872 undergraduate students enrolled in medical and allied health anatomy-based programs at a large Saudi university. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Declarative memory performance was evaluated using selected domains of the Wechsler Memory Scale. Academic achievement was measured using grade point average (GPA). Group differences were analyzed using analysis of variance with Tukey’s post hoc testing, and associations were examined using Pearson’s correlation. Poor sleep quality was reported by 38% of participants. Poorer sleep quality was significantly associated with lower memory performance ( r = −0.123, P < 0.001) and lower GPA ( r = −0.235, P < 0.001). Memory performance correlated positively with GPA ( r = 0.169, P < 0.001). Study duration showed a weak positive correlation with GPA and was not related to sleep quality. Sleep quality was independently associated with declarative memory performance and academic achievement. These findings position sleep as a biologically relevant factor influencing cognitive readiness and learning stability in anatomy-based educational programs.