College Residential Sleep Environment

Abstract

College students regularly report increased sleep disturbances as well as concomitant reductions in performance (e.g., academic grades) upon entering college. Sleep hygiene refers to healthy sleep practices that are commonly used as first interventions in sleep disturbances. One widely used practice of this sort involves arranging the sleep environment to minimize disturbances from excessive noise and light at bedtime. Communal sleep situations such as those in college residence halls do not easily support this intervention. Following several focus groups, a questionnaire was designed to gather self-reported information on sleep disturbances in a college population. The present study used The Young Adult Sleep Environment Inventory (YASEI) and sleep logs to investigate the sleep environment of college students living in residential halls. A summary of responses indicated that noise and light are significant sleep disturbances in these environments. Recommendations are presented related to these findings.

Sleep Pattern Changes in Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…Before lockdown, scores are similar for each variable, however, lockdown only caused significant changes to those living with family. Living with other students during the academic year, such as at university residences or shared flats, had an influence on sleep quality [ 45 ]. All students living in university residences or rented flats had to return to their family homes and this could have improved sleep quality, preventing any significant differences in the scores during lockdown.…”

Fatigue In Collegiate Aviation

“…The second theme that became apparent to researchers was that uncomfortable dorm environments led to sleep disturbances due to factors such as excessive noise and light at bedtime. Previous studies pointed out that an adequate sleep environment is important to obtain an appropriate quality and quantity of sleep (Caddick, Gregory, Arsintescu, & Flynn-Evans, 2018;Sexton-Radek, & Hartley 2013).…”

Sleep Practices of University Students Living in Residence

“…Sleeping in residence can be a challenging experience for students because of the unique environment, roommates' different habits, and uncomfortable bedroom temperature (Sexton-Radek & Hartley, 2013). A study showed sleep difficulty was one of the predictors of stress for students who live in residence (Dusselier et al, 2015).…”

“…It is a critical life period to both adopt and discontinue behaviors and self-care activities related to health (Viner et al, 2012). Sleep is one such self-care challenges and poor sleep is a potential obstacle to success for HE students (Orzech, Salafsky, & Hamilton, 2011;Sexton-Radek & Hartley, 2013;Gaultney, 2016). A study of health-risk behaviors among post-secondary students across eight Canadian HE institutions showed that 75.6% of students did not get adequate sleep (Kwan et al, 2013).…”