0193 Sleep profiles of drinking and non-drinking college students

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Alcohol use and insufficient sleep are prevalent in American college students and studies suggest that these behaviors are reciprocally interrelated. However, there is limited information about the relationship between sleep and alcohol use in college students without sleep or alcohol disorders. This study aimed to characterize the relationship between sleep and alcohol use in healthy college students by considering the effects of using alcohol on same-day nocturnal sleep, next-day nocturnal sleep, and napping. Methods Thirty-one college students (n=12 consumed alcohol during the study, n=19 did not) completed twice-daily online diary reports and wore a wrist-actigraphy device across two weeks. Linear mixed models examined person-specific (e.g., drinker or non-drinker) and event-specific (e.g., drinking or non-drinking night; school or free night) effects of alcohol use on subjective and objective sleep outcomes. Results When averaged across all nights, sleep behavior did not differ between drinkers and non-drinkers (ps>0.05). On drinking nights, participants went to bed later (p< 0.05) but woke up at similar times compared to non-drinking nights, resulting in significantly shorter sleep durations on drinking nights (p< 0.05). There were no effects of alcohol use on subjective sleep quality or daytime sleepiness (ps>0.05) or on next-day nocturnal sleep variables (ps>0.05). Daytime sleep (i.e., napping) was observed in 25 (81%) participants. The proportion of nappers and number of naps per participant did not significantly differ by drinking status (ps>0.05). There were also no differences in actigraphy-derived daytime sleep variables between drinkers and non-drinkers (ps>0.05). Among drinkers who napped (n=9), naps were taken on 27% of days following drinking nights and on 17% of days following non-drinking nights (p>0.05). Conclusion This study bolsters prior reports that insufficient nocturnal sleep and daytime napping are common in college by validating self-reported sleep behaviors with objective actigraphy data. Efforts to convey the importance of proper sleep are still needed in the college context. Future research should examine consequences of layering acute bouts of excessive alcohol consumption onto insufficient nocturnal sleep. Support (if any) This work was supported by the NIH NIAAA grant R01AA028286 to JB and AS.