Why Are Your Students So Sleepy? How Can You Help?

We predicted that stress and depression would significantly disrupt college students’ quality of sleep. Additionally, we predicted that the use of cell phones before going to bed and the number of hours spent at work would further disrupt students’ sleep. We distributed 120 questionnaires to consenting college students measuring perceived stress, depression, sleep quality, work hours, and questions about telephone use. Using multiple regression analysis, we found that perceived stress showed the largest effect on sleep quality. Stress was associated with difficulty falling asleep and maintaining sleep throughout the night. It also contributed to daytime dysfunction and diminished sleep satisfaction. Depression was associated with difficulty maintaining sleep and getting up in the morning. Depression also promoted daytime dysfunction. Allowing the phone to delay bedtime affected the ability to maintain sleep, get up in the morning, and diminished overall sleep satisfaction. The students' workload didn’t impact their sleep significantly. These results suggest that students’ sleep, and consequently their cognitive function, will benefit from psychotherapy as well as training in the improved use of cellphones.