Daily associations between modifiable sleep behaviors and nighttime sleep among young adult drinkers with insomnia

Sleep-Related Predictors of Risk for Alcohol Use and Related Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults

PURPOSE

Growing evidence supports sleep and circadian rhythms as influencing alcohol use and the course of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Studying sleep/circadian-alcohol associations during adolescence and young adulthood may be valuable for identifying sleep/circadian-related approaches to preventing and/or treating AUD. This paper reviews current evidence for prospective associations between sleep/circadian factors and alcohol involvement during adolescence and young adulthood with an emphasis on the effects of sleep/circadian factors on alcohol use.

SEARCH METHODS

The authors conducted a literature search in PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science using the search terms "sleep" and "alcohol" paired with "adolescent" or "adolescence" or "young adult" or "emerging adult," focusing on the title/abstract fields, and restricting to English-language articles. Next, the search was narrowed to articles with a prospective/longitudinal or experimental design, a sleep-related measure as a predictor, an alcohol-related measure as an outcome, and confirming a primarily adolescent and/or young adult sample. This step was completed by a joint review of candidate article abstracts by two of the authors.

SEARCH RESULTS

The initial search resulted in 720 articles. After review of the abstracts, the list was narrowed to 27 articles reporting on observational longitudinal studies and three articles reporting on intervention trials. Noted for potential inclusion were 35 additional articles that reported on studies with alcohol-related predictors and sleep-related outcomes, and/or reported on candidate moderators or mediators of sleep-alcohol associations. Additional articles were identified via review of relevant article reference lists and prior exposure based on the authors' previous work in this area.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the review supports a range of sleep/circadian characteristics during adolescence and young adulthood predicting the development of alcohol use and/or alcohol-related problems. Although sleep treatment studies in adolescents and young adults engaging in regular and/or heavy drinking show that sleep can be improved in those individuals, as well as potentially reducing alcohol craving and alcohol-related consequences, no studies in any age group have yet demonstrated that improving sleep reduces drinking behavior. Notable limitations include relatively few longitudinal studies and only two experimental studies, insufficient consideration of different assessment timescales (e.g., day-to-day vs. years), insufficient consideration of the multidimensional nature of sleep, a paucity of objective measures of sleep and circadian rhythms, and insufficient consideration of how demographic variables may influence sleep/circadian-alcohol associations. Examining such moderators, particularly those related to minoritized identities, as well as further investigation of putative mechanistic pathways linking sleep/circadian characteristics to alcohol outcomes, are important next steps.

Sleep Hygiene Practices and Its Impact on Mental Health and Functional Performance Among Adults in Tabuk City: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Poor or imperfect sleep hygiene practices include all factors that promote arousal or disrupt the normal balance of the sleep-wake cycle. It is necessary to clarify the relationship between sleep hygiene behaviors and a person's mental health. This may allow a better understanding of this problem and might help design effective awareness programs about good sleep hygiene practices for reducing the serious outcomes of this problem. Therefore, the current study was conducted to evaluate sleep hygiene practices and assess the impact of sleep hygiene on sleep quality and the mental health of the adult population of Tabuk city, Saudi Arabia. Methodology This cross-sectional, survey-based study was conducted in Tabuk city, Saudi Arabia in 2022. All adult residents of Tabuk city, Saudi Arabia were invited to participate. Participants with incomplete data were excluded from the study. A self-administered questionnaire was developed by the researchers to assess sleep hygiene practices and their impact on the sleep quality and mental health of the study participants. Results The study included 384 adults. There was a significant association between the frequency of sleep problems and poor sleep hygiene practices (p < 0.001). The percentage of subjects who had problems sleeping during the past three months was significantly higher among those having poor sleep hygiene practices (76.5%) than their counterparts (56.1%). The rates of excessive or severe daytime sleepiness were significantly higher among individuals with poor hygiene practices (22.5% versus 11.7% and 5.2% versus 1.2%, p = 0.001). Participants with depression were found to be significantly higher among the poor hygiene group (75.8%) in comparison to those having good hygiene practices (59.6%) (p = 0.001). Conclusions The findings of the present study indicate significant associations between poor sleep hygiene practices and sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and depression among adult residents of Tabuk city, Saudi Arabia.