Freshman Sleep and Health Project

Sleep is a clearly necessary neurobiologic process that influences innumerable aspects of
basic daily functions, physical health, and mental well-being. Recent literature shows that
college students across the country are experiencing high rates of sleep deprivation.
Interestingly, some recent studies have implicated this sleep loss in contributing to weight
gain that occurs in the first year of college, also known as the "freshman fifteen." Rates of
depression and other mental health issues, which are closely connected to sleep disturbances,
are also on the rise in college campuses. The majority of the sleep data obtained in this
population has been via questionnaires and self report, and the studies usually include
college students at all seniority levels (e.g., freshmen, sophomores, seniors). Here, the
investigators outline a novel study investigating how sleep time changes in college freshman,
and how it relates to multiple different aspects of their health and functioning over the
course of one quarter.

As technology has advanced, the ability to easily obtain objective measurements of different
health parameters has increased dramatically. The investigators plan to use wireless
actigraphy devices to measure sleep over a baseline seven day period in college-bound UCSD
students prior to matriculation, and for 2 additional seven day periods during the first
quarter of college. To the knowledge of the investigators, this is the first study to
directly measure sleep time in college freshman in their normal environment. Effects of sleep
time loss will be evaluated through multiple different metrics of physical and mental health.
Given the recent link between sleep disturbances and weight gain in college freshman, the
investigators will plan to measure weight changes prior to entering college and at two
different time points through the first quarter. The investigators will use the PSQ-9 and
GAD7 batteries as measures of mental health, obtained at the same time points as the sleep
and weight information. As one of the primary consequences of sleep deprivation is on
neurocognition in the daytime, the investigators plan to measure vigilant attention using
psychomotor vigilance testing (PVT) as well. Screen time use has recently been targeted as a
possible contributor to sleep loss in adolescents as well as adults and is something the
investigators will attempt to measure as well using a smartphone application. Finally, this
project will test the efficacy of a one hour sleep education intervention on improving total
sleep time.

To the knowledge of the investigators, no other studies have closely examined how total sleep
time changes during the first year of college in freshman in relationship to weight and
mental health parameters, nor has PVT been done in this context. Additionally, with the
increasing concerns regarding screen time use in adolescents and young adults, this study
provides prime opportunity to examine this issue in the context of sleep.