An Overview of Sleep Behaviours in Undergraduate and Graduate University Students
Creators: name: Mcleod, Johnathan
name: Paetzel, Paul
name: Law, Mary
name: Polyhronopoulos, Leah
name: Lee, Austin
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2024

description: The objective of the following research project proposed by UBC Recreation was to gain insight into the sleep behaviours of undergraduate and graduate students living in residence at the University of British Columbia. This research project’s intent was to gather information about students’ sleep habits (including consistency of sleep and wake times and screen time use before bed), quality of sleep, and sleep duration to determine resources needed to support better sleep in UBC students. Past research demonstrates that awareness of proper sleep hygiene, which includes healthy habits and behaviours surrounding sleep such as consistent wakeup times, limited caffeine and alcohol consumption, and avoiding late naps, is low among university students (Brown et al., 2002). Furthermore, it has been identified that university students consistently report poor sleep, sleeping less than what is recommended by sleep health guidelines (Semsarian et al., 2021; Humphries et al., 2022). The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology has created the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which are a series of prescriptions that focus on the integration of physical activity, sleep hygiene, and the reduction of sedentary behaviours. These guidelines suggest that adults aged 18-64 sleep 7-9 hours per night (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, n.d.). The target population included UBC undergraduate and graduate students living in residence at the UBC Vancouver campus. Participants were recruited by posters placed strategically around UBC campus, through recruitment materials that were shared on social media by group members via Facebook and Instagram, and through recruiting students at the start of lectures with the permission of UBC professors. The findings of this research project suggest that, as a whole, undergraduate and graduate students living in residence at UBC Vancouver campus do not meet the minimum sleep requirements of 7-9 hours, nor do they report having good quality sleep, meaning that they do not feel refreshed and satisfied following their nightly sleep. Many students cited sacrificing sleep to study, stress, lack of time, time management, and anxiety as significant factors that impede them from being able to engage in healthy sleep habits and behaviours. Overall, sleep hygiene was poor among students, with very few reporting consistent sleep and wake times, and almost all participants reported engaging in screen time before bed. Moreover, awareness and knowledge of the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines was low among participants, indicating a gap in education with respect to these guidelines. It was determined that residence-specific factors that create barriers for students to achieve good sleep quality and quantity include roommate noise, loud neighbours, nearby construction, fire alarms, differing roommate schedules, hall lights, and outdoor lights. With respect to differences in roommate schedules, many students reported that their roommates often had family and friends in different time zones, and would therefore frequently stay up late and/or wake up early to contact them at odd hours of the night. As a result of the study’s findings, we created both immediately actionable and long-term recommendations for UBC Recreation to better support sleep quality and quantity among students. Immediately actionable recommendations include creating a Canvas module at the beginning of each school year to provide incoming students living in residence with information and resources to incorporate the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines into their everyday lives. Moreover, we recommend that UBC Recreation creates an annual digital sleep workshop for students living in residence to provide them with actionable steps and resources to improve their sleep hygiene, habits, and behaviours. Long-term recommendations include UBC Recreation collaborating with UBC Housing to invest in sleep-enhancing infrastructures, such as soundproofing dormitory walls, automatic dimmers for hallway lights, and blackout blinds for windows, while also taking roommate sleep schedules into account when making these pairings. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”