Sleep Hygiene Behaviour in Students: An Intended Strategy to Cope with Stress?

Abstract

Background: Sleep is a central factor for a healthy lifestyle and thus a health-related resource. Objective: The present study clarifies the origin and importance of sleep hygiene behaviour as a possible coping strategy of students and examines the extent to which students use sleep to cope with stress. Methods: For this purpose, in this longitudinal study a total of N = 145 students reported on sleep hygiene behaviour in everyday study life, health-related intention formation, subjective experience of stress and sleep quality over a period of two weeks. Multiple regression and moderation analyses were calculated. Results: Intentions to enact sleep hygiene behaviour were not triggered by current stress experiences. However, significant interaction between intentions to and actually enacted sleep hygiene behaviour was found. In students with high intentions, sleep hygiene behaviour leads to decreased stress experiences. Conclusion: Students’ sleep hygiene behaviour supports coping with stress in students with high intentions. Further research must identify specifics of sleep hygiene behaviour and ways of increasing intention to use it as coping strategy in students’ health-promotion.