The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality in the Relationship Between Chronic Stress and Cognitive Performance among Medical Students

Medical education is characterized by high academic demands, intense competition, and emotional pressure, often leading to chronic stress among students. Focusing on a sample of 150 individuals from different academic year. This conceptual paper explores the mediating role of sleep quality in the relationship between chronic stress and cognitive performance among medical students. Based on the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping as the guiding theory for this paper, this research offers a synthesis of the of the three key variables: Chronic Stress, measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10); Sleep Quality, assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); and Cognitive Performance, evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). A review of contemporary literature suggests that while chronic stress directly impairs cognitive functions such as memory and executive control, a significant portion of this impairment is medi- ated through sleep disturbances. The proposed conceptual framework highlights sleep quality not merely as a symptom of stress, but as a critical mechanism through which stress exerts its delete- rious effects on the brain. Implications for academic curriculum design, student support services, and future research directions are discussed.