This paper discusses three published articles that report on results from research conducted based on the sleep quantity and quality of college students. Although the three articles are based on sleep quantity and quality of college students, they vary in the approach. Baroni, Bruzzese, Di Bartolo, Ciarleglio, and Shakti (2018) studied what the impact of a sleep course would have on sleep, mood and anxiety symptoms on college students. Friedrich, and Schlarb (2018) studied the impact of psychological interventions that would help improve sleep in college students, and Patrick, Griffin, Huntley, and Maggs (2018) studied whether energy drinks and binge drinking could predict college students sleep quality and quantity as well as tiredness. This paper examines all three articles in relation to each other in order to suggest that by simply teaching better sleep hygiene to college students it will improve their sleep quantity, quality, mental health, physical heath, and academic success.
Sleeping hygiene in College and their Effects on Health
College is a time to remember, and a time filled with continuous change, challenges, growth, and most importantly stress. These emerging adults are facing changes in every aspect of their life, making them busier than ever. And although their busy schedules requires an adequate amount of sleep the majority of college students have poor sleep quality and quantity. Making sleep problems a common occurrence on college campuses, more often then not these sleeping problems lead to bad habits that include: energy drinks, binge drinking, etc. as well as having a negative effect on mental and physical health. Although sleep is one of the most common factors that are neglected by students it is also one of the most important because it closely relates to academic success. Sleep deprivation decreases one’s learning capacity and cognitive capabilities. By teaching and practicing better sleep hygiene to college students it can help improve their mental health, physical health, overall success as a student, and reduce bad habits.
Literature review
In Baroni et al.’s (2018) studied what the impact of a sleep course would have on the sleep, mood and anxiety symptoms in college students. The study used 145 students and from there 70 students were enrolled in a sleep course while 75 students were enrolled in a psychology course. Both these courses followed the same academic department and both courses were taught by professors that who taught both courses. The sleep quality of the students was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI), Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ-10), and one-week sleep logs. While psychopathology measures used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). In the sleep course students were taught how to tackle poor sleep hygiene both cognitively and behaviorally, while student who were enrolled in the psychology course (child and adolescent psychopathology) learned about common pediatric psychiatric disorders and were given a brochure on sleep hygiene by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Students who were enrolled in the sleep course reported significantly higher measures in all sleep quality test and also reported fewer symptoms of depression compared to counterpart students. These findings in Baroni et al.’s (2018) study show that educating college students on sleep hygiene can potentially improve it among them.
Friedrich et al.’s (2018) studied how psychological interventions would help improve sleep in college students. The study used 2,776 students; these participants were assigned to four different intervention categories including: sleep hygiene, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), relaxation, mindfulness and hypnotherapy, and other psychotherapeutic interventions. Following the different intervention categories many outcomes were measured including: sleep hygiene, sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep onset, sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and mental health, etc. From the findings the two intervention categories that had the most effect on the overall sleep measures were sleep hygiene and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Sleep hygiene had a small to medium effect on all the measures, while CBT showed a large effect on all the measures. The finding in Friedrich et al.’s (2018) study show that although sleep hygiene does have an effect on overall sleep in college students, CBT has a larger effect and it can be useful to have a combination of both intervention categories in order to have an impactful intervention that will help improve sleep in college students.
In Patrick et al.’s (2018) studied whether energy drinks and binge drinking could predict the sleep quantity, quality, and tiredness of college students. The study used 667 students and followed the data through four semesters. The participants used followed strict criteria they had to be first year, full time students who are under the age of 21 and had to live within 25 miles of the college campus. Everyday participants were asked questions regarding sleep (questions regarded sleep quantity, and quality), energy drink use, and binge drinking use. All female participants were only allowed a minimum of 4 drinks within a two-hour period, while the male participants were allowed a minimum of 5 drinks. The findings in Patrick et al.’s (2018) study found that sleep quality and quantity decreased when students consumed energy drinks earlier that day. Binge drinking also had the same effect as energy drinks; it significantly decreased students’ sleep quantity and quality while also causing greater next-day tiredness. Many students use energy drinks to make up for lack of energy but don’t realize that its going to negatively effect their sleep and energy for the next day, causing a never ending cycle. Interventions to decrease the use of energy drinking and binge drinking could greatly affect the overall sleep of college students.
Conclusion
While college life requires a lot of energy from its students, students are not getting an adequate amount of sleep needed. Lacking sufficient amount of sleep leads to negative effects on student’s mental and physical health, and leads to bad habits that are hard to quit. It is necessary to conduct studies on different interventions to see how it impacts sleep in college students. Baroni et al.’s (2018) study shows the importance on educating students on sleep hygiene as even learning about in one semester had a great effect on the participants sleep quality and quantity. Friedrich et al.’s (2018) study showed the importance of intervention categories including sleep hygiene as well as cognitive behavioral therapy and effect of it on the improvement of college students. Patrick et al.’s (2018) study showed the negative affects that energy drinks and binge drinking does to students’ overall sleep quantity and quality. All three articles show the importance of educating college students in order to improve their sleep hygiene. By improving their sleep hygiene we can reduce any negative mental health symptoms, physical symptoms, and bad habits that are associated with lack of sleep or poor sleep habits.