The impact of a remote, brief, sleep hygiene intervention on undergraduate students’ sleep and stress: A randomized controlled trial

Objective: Stress among college students contributes to and results from poor sleep. We created a brief, remotely-delivered sleep hygiene intervention and tested whether it improved sleep hygiene and reduced sleep disturbance and stress, compared to a sleep education control condition. Participants: We studied 108 racially/ethnically diverse undergraduates (76.9% females, 18.5% males, 1.9% nonbinary, 1.9% prefer not to disclose). Methods: Baseline and two-week follow-up questionnaires assessed sleep hygiene, sleep disturbance, and perceived stress. ANCOVAs compared intervention and control conditions at follow-up; mediation analyses explored whether the intervention reduced stress through improved sleep. Results: Compared to controls, the intervention improved sleep hygiene and sleep disturbance (both p < .001, η_p² = 0.21, large effects) and lowered stress (p = .006, η_p² = 0.07, medium effect). Mediation analyses suggest that the intervention reduced stress via improved sleep hygiene and disturbance. Conclusions: Brief, remotely-delivered, sleep hygiene training decreases undergraduates' stress, perhaps by improving their sleep hygiene and sleep quality.