College residential sleep environment.

College students regularly report increased sleep disturbances as well as concomitant reductions in performance (e.g., academic grades) upon entering college. Sleep hygiene refers to healthy sleep practices that are commonly used as first interventions in sleep disturbances. One widely used practice of this sort involves arranging the sleep environment to minimize disturbances from excessive noise and light at bedtime. Communal sleep situations such as those in college residence halls do not easily support this intervention. Following several focus groups, a questionnaire was designed to gather self-reported information on sleep disturbances in a college population. The present study used The Young Adult Sleep Environment Inventory (YASEI) and sleep logs to investigate the sleep environment of college students living in residential halls. A summary of responses indicated that noise and light are significant sleep disturbances in these environments. Recommendations are presented related to these findings.