Sleep patterns of college students at a public university.
OBJECTIVE
The authors' purpose in this study was to determine the sleep patterns of college students to identify problem areas and potential solutions.


METHODS
A total of 313 students returned completed surveys.


METHODS
A sleep survey was e-mailed to a random sample of students at a North Central university. Questions included individual sleep patterns, problems, and possible influencing factors.


RESULTS
Most students reported later bedtimes and rise times on weekends than they did on weekdays. More than 33% of the students took longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep, and 43% woke more than once nightly. More than 33% reported being tired during the day. The authors found no differences between freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students for time to fall asleep, number of night wakings, or total time slept each night.


CONCLUSIONS
Many students have sleep problems that may interfere with daily performance, such as driving and academics. Circadian rhythm management, sleep hygiene, and white noise could ameliorate sleep difficulties.
Forquer
Leanne M
LM
Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA. lforquer@deltastate.edu
Camden
Adrian E
AE
Gabriau
Krista M
KM
Johnson
C Merle
CM
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012890:Sleep; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities