Relationship of sleep hygiene awareness, sleep hygiene practices, and sleep quality in university students.

College students are known for their variable sleep schedules. Such schedules, along with other common student practices (e.g., alcohol and caffeine consumption), are associated with poor sleep hygiene. Researchers have demonstrated in clinical populations that improving sleep hygiene knowledge and practices is an effective treatment for insomnia. However, researchers who have examined relationships between sleep hygiene and practices in nonclinical samples and overall sleep quality have produced inconsistent findings, perhaps because of questionable measures. In this study, the authors used psychometrically sound instruments to examine these variables and to counter the shortcomings in previous investigations. Their findings suggest that knowledge of sleep hygiene is related to sleep practices, which, in turn, is related to overall sleep quality. The data from their regression modeling indicated that variable sleep schedules, going to bed thirsty, environmental noise, and worrying while falling asleep contribute to poor sleep quality.