Abstract
Introduction
Epidemiological studies have long established that sleep factors, stress, and cardiovascular health are related. College students often struggle with the demands of college life, which leads to increased stress, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and poor sleep. The focus of the current study was to examine habitual sleep habits in college students, in association with psychological factors and physiological factors.
Methods
Participants included 51 undergraduate students (18 men, average age M=20.25 years, SD=1.78) who wore wrist actigraphs to measure their typical sleep habits. After one week, participants completed questionnaires about psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress; Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, DASS-21) and subjective physiological symptoms (i.e., fatigue; Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue Scale, MAF). Blood pressure and heart rate were measured using a wrist cuff.
Results
Overall total sleep time was 6.59 hours and sleep efficiency was 82.55%. Pearson correlational analyses revealed a negative moderate association between sleep efficiency and diastolic blood pressure (r(49) = -.318, p = .024). Global PSQI scores were moderately associated with stress (r(49) = .419, p = .002). MAF Global Fatigue Index scores revealed positive associations with depression (r(49) = .344, p =.014), anxiety (r(49) = .474, p<.001), and stress (r(49) = .620 p<.001). Heart rate was positively associated with depressive symptoms r(49) = .296, p= .035), stress symptoms r(49) = .447, p= .001), and fatigue r(49) = .456, p= .001).
Conclusion
As expected, college students’ sleep was short in duration and poor in efficiency. Sleep factors, cardiovascular factors, psychological factors, and stress were all related, demonstrating the importance of sleep on physiological and psychological health. More research should be conducted to further examine the relationships and directionality between sleep, psychological factors, and stress as there may be underlying mechanisms important for cardiovascular health.
Support
None.
EFFECT OF CUFF-INFLATION ON BLOOD PRESSURE, SLEEP EFFICIENCY AND AROUSAL: A SUBANALYSIS OF THE VAST STUDY
