Sleep Trends and College Students: Does it Connect to Obesity?

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate and compare local to national averages in college-aged students' sleep disturbances, as well as further investigate key demographics (obesity classification, gender, race, year in college) among sleep issues.

Methods: This study investigated 636 undergraduate students (333 males, 303 Females, "M" age = 20.12, range = 18-26 years old). These participants were recruited from 28 of the 146 physical activity courses at a Southeastern university. Researchers developed a short survey with sleep questions from the ACHA-NCHA, demographic questions, as well as anthropometric data (height, weight, waist circumference and bioelectrical impedance). A pilot study was administered first to ensure validity of the modified survey.

Results: Looking at the national averages and local averages, there were several categories that yielded large differences between groups. Additionally, ANOVA's revealed there were significant differences between BMI in males ("M" = 26.97, "SD" = 5.53) and females ("M" = 24.9, "SD" = 5.97) with F(1,633)=19.53, "p" < 0.001, as well as waist circumference F(1, 633) = 76.73, "p" < 0.001 with males having larger WC ("M" = 89.1, "SD" = 12.94) than females ("M" = 79.6, "SD" = 14.56). Finally, a significant relationship was found between gender and meeting physical activity recommendation requirements, ?[superscript 2] = 11.71, "p" = 0.001, and for sleep disturbances, ?[superscript 2] = 5.11, "p" = 0.05.

Conclusions: In conclusion, even without finding sleep disturbances as a factor that predicts overweight or obesity, the highlights future research endeavors that need to be taken in order to further investigate the relationship between sleep and obesity.