B. J. Farrell, R. W. Emmerton, C. Camilleri and S. Sammut
Published in Sleep Science and Practice, 25 September 2024
doi: 10.1186/s41606-024-00113-8
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Highlights
- A significant proportion of the students reported poor sleep quality and significant levels of impulsivity.
- Sleep quality and its relationship with impulsivity have the potential to impact an individual’s interpersonal functioning.
- We suggest the importance of a deeper consideration and addressing of core factors that may fundamentally impact a broader range of behaviors than what is clinically observed in mental health issues. Such core factors include strategies that assist in encouraging higher-level cognitive functions (top-down regulation/behavior), encouraging the building of character/virtue and strengthening the individual through self-discipline and perseverance. Such strategies are, potentially, more likely to provide broader positive behavioral impact with long-term benefits in overall wellbeing to the individual involved.
Background:
The mental health pandemic continues to expand despite supposed increases in resources to assist. In the U.S. alone it is estimated to cost the economy over $280 billion per year. Research continues to investigate potential contributors. Key to the investigation is the addressing of dysfunctional behaviors that fundamentally (at the deepest level) influence human behavior. One key behavior, underlying numerous psychiatric disorders and prevalent socially, is impulsivity (i.e., lack of self-control/self-discipline/self-regulation). A deficiency in impulse control can contribute to a wide range of negative, disinhibited and often risky behaviors which, by extension impact social behaviors/functioning. Another prevalent behavior reported in the literature relates to disordered sleep behaviors. Sleep is a vital behavior for appropriate physiological and psychological functioning and disordered sleep behaviors have potential downstream behavioral consequences which ultimately also impact social functioning.
Goal of the Study:
Our study sought to investigate the relationship between sleep quality, impulsivity and interpersonal functioning among university students.
Results:
The findings of our study:
- Confirm the significant presence of poor sleep quality and impulsivity among university students;
- Support the relationship between disordered sleep behaviors, higher levels of impulsivity and lower interpersonal functioning;
- Showed that females reported a significantly higher prevalence of poor sleep quality relative to males;
- Indicated that individuals reporting poor sleep quality also reported significantly higher levels of impulsivity and worse overall interpersonal functioning.
- Have broader implications than the university student population given the prevalence of impulsivity as an underlying issue in disordered behaviors in addition to the poor sleep hygiene, impacted by our lifestyle in general, but also by major events impacting human behavior, such as the measures taken to purportedly address COVID-19.
Conclusion:
- Given that impulsivity is a reflection of dysfunctional top-down control and both underlies numerous psychiatric disorders, in addition to leading to various dysfunctional behaviors, we conclude that, in order to achieve optimal overall well-being, when an issue arises, it is ideal that a long-term approach that addresses the root of the problem is considered, rather than the simply the downstream expressed behaviors.
- In targeting the root of the issue, in the context of this study, rather than simply seeking to minimize the negative consequences associated with lower interpersonal functioning, it would appear to be more beneficial to maximize preventative constructive behaviors (such as improving sleep quality and minimizing impulsivity, i.e., addressing the root of the issue) that build character/virtue and strengthen the individual, including through self-discipline and perseverance.
Sammut Lab 