Characteristics and State of College Students' Sleep

Background/Purpose: The status of Americans' sleep in general is poor, however limited literature describes the emerging adult population's sleep pattern.  Existing literature has shown that in past decades the sleep of youth transitioning into adulthood, such as college students, is diminishing in quality and quantity.  Additionally, poor sleep has been shown to impact health, perceived wellness, academics, and work related performance in a negative manner.  The purpose of this study was to describe the state of emerging adult college students' sleep patterns at a large Midwestern university. 

Method: Sleep characteristics were measured by the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment-II at a large Midwestern university. The participants were limited to 762 (n = 291 male, n = 471 female) undergraduate students, ages 18 to 23, enrolled at a large Midwestern university to best capture the emerging adult population. 

Analysis/Results: Descriptive statistics, including means and percentages, were used to determine the current characteristics of students’ sleep. Descriptive results indicated that students have poor sleep quality, less than half have received information on sleep from the university, and students are interested in receiving information, but only 2.6% have been diagnosed or treated for a sleep disorder.

Conclusions: Findings resulted in the conclusion that university health promotion and education should indeed address sleep quality considering the impact on wellbeing, health, and school and work related performance.  Doing so may reduce negative outcomes for youth as they transition into adulthood and throughout the lifespan.  Suggestions for sleep based health promotion and education will be provided.