Screen Time and Objectively Measured Sleep of U.S. College Students: A Brief Report

The objective was to investigate screen time (ST) and objectively measured sleep quality in college students. Participants were undergraduate students attending a large metropolitan public university in the southeastern U.S. Participants wore accelerometers on their wrist for 24hr/day for 14 days to capture sleep outcomes, and completed a survey reporting ST duration. Analyses explored weight-status, race/ethnicity, and sleep patterns (presence of daytime sleep) differences among students. Participants (n=29, 86% female, ~21.5 years old, 38% White, 35% Overweight/Obese) slept for an average of 433.8 minutes/night, reported 419.1 minutes of daily ST, and 112 minutes of ST after 10:00PM. College students with daytime sleep (i.e., napping) reported approximately -92 minutes less of daily ST than peers (p=0.04; effect size=0.86). Further studies in larger, diverse samples are needed to explore ST and sleep, specifically the causal relationship and its potential to impact the health of college students at greatest risk of poor health outcomes.