Abstract
Background and Aim: Sleep insufficiency is often associated with the life of a university student, yet it is well known that inadequate sleep can have a negative impact on physical and mental health and be detrimental to cognitive skills for learning. The aim of this study was to replicate a Canadian study to survey university student sleep practices, the way in which students address any sleep issues, and the students’ preferred method to receive targeted sleep information. Methods: An anonymous on-line survey was promoted to all enrolled students at one Australian University in August 2017. Results: In total, 601 students responded to the survey. One third indicated that they had insufficient sleep (less than 6.5 hrs). Almost two thirds reported a perception of not getting sufficient sleep. There was a significant association between the reported number of sleep hours, and the perception of high-quality sleep. Strategies to get to sleep included the use of social media which is counter to best practice in sleep hygiene. Conclusion: The study supports the need for education about sleep health coupled with stress management to better the demands of student life.
Keywords
higher education, college, tertiary education, sleep
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2020
Publication Title
Nature and Science of Sleep
Publisher
Dove Medical Press
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
31427
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
Comments
Batten, R., Liddiard, K., Raynor, A. J., Brown, C. A., Stanley, M. (2020). Cross-sectional survey of sleep practices of Australian university students, Nature and Science of Sleep. 2020(12), 39—48.
https://doi.org/10.2147%2FNSS.S221472