Abstract
A potential contributor to insufficient sleep among college students is their daily schedule, with sleep sacrificed for other waking activities. We investigated how daily schedules predict day-to-day sleep-wake timing in college students. 223 undergraduate college students (M±SD = 19.2±1.4 years, 37% females) attending a Massachusetts university in the US between 2013–2016 were monitored for approximately 30 days during semester. Sleep-wake timing was measured using daily online sleep diaries and wrist-actigraphy. Daily schedules were measured using daily online diaries that included self-reported timing and duration of academic, exercise-based, and extracurricular activities, and duration of self-study. Linear mixed models were used to examine the association between sleep-wake patterns and daily schedules at both the between-person and within-person levels. An earlier start time of the first-reported activity predicted earlier sleep onset (between and within: p<.001) and shorter total sleep time (within: p<.001) for the previous night, as well as earlier wake onset on the corresponding day (between and within: p<.001). A later end time of the last-reported activity predicted later sleep onset (within: p=.002) and shorter total sleep time (within: p=.02) on that night. A more intense daily schedule (i.e., greater total duration of reported activities) predicted an earlier wake onset time (between: p=.003, within: p<.001), a later sleep onset time (within: p<.001), a shortened total night-time sleep duration (between: p=.03, within: p<.001), and greater sleep efficiency (within: p<.001). These results indicate that college students may organize their sleep and wake times based on their daily schedule.