Sleep education in college: a preliminary study

Abstract

In this study we evaluated the effect of a two-credit (100 min./week) "Sleep Management" course on the sleep patterns of college students as the course progressed over an 18-wk. semester. Curricular activity included lectures, group discussions, and practice of self-evaluation of sleep. Instead of giving the students the whole list of sleep hygiene at the outset of the course, each concept of sleep hygiene was introduced and discussed under related lecture topics. A total of 241 students (131 men and 110 women) took the course and kept 7-day sleep logs three times. Concurrently, sleep-log data were collected from 65 students (32 men and 33 women) who were not taking the course. Both groups showed similar varieties of academic backgrounds and characteristics of sleep patterns at the beginning. Similarly, their sleep patterns, namely, rise time, nighttime awakenings, time asleep, time in bed, sleep efficiency, and rise time regularity, changed over the semester. Women in both groups had more nighttime awakenings. In contrast, sleep quality was progressively better for the group in the course but not for the control group. Only women in the course decreased their nap time in the second and third months. Thus, the course of "Sleep Management" only had a mild and limited effect on sleep patterns. The course content needs refinement to maximize influence on students' sleep patterns and habits, particularly, on reduction of insufficient sleep and daytime sleepiness which are the highest ranking sleep problems among college students.