College Students Who Can Sleep in Sometimes Drink More
New research suggests that college students who sleep in because they have later classes may be staying up later and drinking because of the ability to sleep in longer. Researchers discovered that the undergrads with later morning class times were more apt to partake in binge drinking on a regular basis.
Pamela Thacher, co-author of the study in Health and associate professor of psychology in Canton, NY for St. Lawrence University, says the later class times appeared to change the decisions students made as it applied to their drinking habits. Thacher found that later class times were linked to more drinking, more sleep time, and modestly lower grades overall.
The study was conducted with around 250 college students who were asked to perform tasks of a cognitive nature and to keep a diary of their sleep for 7 days. Students were then given surveys related to their sleep patterns, class times, alcohol use, and their moods.
The results of the study showed that students with later class times had a tendency to stay awake later into the night, weren’t rested as well, experienced more sleepiness in the daytime, and received slightly lower grades.
Those students with the later morning start times also reported higher levels of participation in drinking heavy amounts and higher levels of alcohol usage. The late nighters were apt to drink more than those that considered themselves early morning risers, according to the study.
