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Background and Objective: Sleep is an important component of the circadian cycle is associated with the restoration of the physical and mental faculties. Physical activity is one of the confounding factors in improving sleep quality. This study was done to determine the effect of physical activity on quality of sleep in female students.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 370 female students in Zabol University in south-east of Iran. Demographic data through a questionnaire were collected for each subject. Sleep quality and physical activity of subjects were recorded using standardized questionnaire Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and physical activity Beck test. Subjects according to physical activity divided into active and inactive groups.

Results: Poor sleep quality was seen in 25.2% and 67.4% of active and inactive students, respectively. Mean of Sleep quality in both groups active 5.73±3.22 and inactive  7.21±3.75 was inappropriate but sleep quality in active females was higher than inactive females (P<0.05). A favorable condition for the quality of sleep was seen in 65.7% of the active group with BMI<25 and only 9.1% of students BMI was more than 25. In inactive students, 60.8% of subjects with BMI<25 had poor sleep quality. Both levels of BMI, sleep quality was significantly different between the groups, but this difference was higher in the active group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Poor sleep quality was seen in high percentage of female students and physical activity influences the quality of sleep.

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Background and Objective: Depression is the most common psychiatric diagnosis. It causes major health problems. Women are more likely to develop depression than men. This study was done to investigate the effect of group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on reducing depression and improving the quality of life of female students.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 26 female students. Students non-randomly were divided into control and intervention groups. Students in intervention group were received the two periods (8 sessions, 2 hours at week) of training in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. All the participants filled out Beck depression inventory II (BDI-II) and World Health Organization Quality of Life – BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) in perior and after the study.
Results: In the intervention group the mean and standard deviation of pre-test and post-test scores of BDI-II was 20.23±6.98 and 13.38±4.97, respectively (P<0.05). In the intervention group, mean and standard deviation of pre-test and post-test scores of WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was 66.77±13.39 and 86.84±10.60, respectively (P<0.05). Also, the mean scores of post-test of quality of life in all subgroups items  was significantly increased in compared to the pre-test in the intervention group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy increases the quality of life and reduced depression in female students.