App-Supported Sleep Coaching: Implications for Sleep Duration and Sleep Quality.

OBJECTIVES: The present study evaluated whether completers of a 12-week app-based, personalized text supported sleep coaching program demonstrated improvements in sleep continuity, sleep duration, and reduced use of sleep aids. METHODS: Data were obtained from Sleep Reset, a 12-week consumer product that offers app-based sleep education and monitoring, along with personalized text-based sleep coaching provided by live coaches. 564 completers were included in the study. Pre-post changes for sleep latency (SL), wake after sleep onset (WASO), number of awakenings (NWAK), total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE%) and use of "sleep aids" were evaluated. To evaluate whether the program produced meaningful results, the proportion of participants who demonstrated reductions in SL, WASO, and NWAK, and increases in TST and SE% were examined. RESULTS: Mean SL was reduced by 11 minutes, mean WASO was reduced by 28 minutes, mean SE% increased by 6.6%, and mean TST increased by about 44 minutes. Of those who reported using "sleep aids" during Week 1, 41% no longer used them by week 12. Those with low SE% at baseline demonstrated greater improvements in SL (16.2 vs 5.7mins), WASO (47.3 vs 7.2mins), SE% (11.2% vs 1.6%), and TST (65.3 vs 31.2mins). Those with ≤6 hours of sleep at baseline demonstrated greater improvements in WASO (36.8 vs 22.3mins), SE% (10.1% vs 4.3%), and TST (85.1 vs 25.5mins). CONCLUSIONS: Participants that completed the app-based, personalized text supported coaching intervention reported subjective improvements in sleep duration and quality that suggest more beneficial effects particularly in those with lower sleep efficiency or sleep duration at baseline. An effective sleep coaching program that utilizes trained sleep coaches with access to board-certified providers, may provide a valuable resource for subclinical populations.

Adverse childhood experiences associated with sleep health in collegiate athletes.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and sleep disturbances in collegiate athletes was examined. METHODS: A questionnaire was completed by 189 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-I male (n = 102) and female (n = 87) student-athletes recruited by flyers on one campus. Variables included adverse childhood experiences (self-reported), insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale), and sleep duration (self-reported). In relation to these variables, eight adverse childhood experience categories were examined. Linear regression adjusted for the effects of age and sex. Adverse childhood experience variables were explored as independent variables in separate and combined models. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant dose-response relationship between adverse childhood experience score and increased insomnia levels, poor sleep quality and decreased sleep duration (p < .05). Physical abuse was associated with increased fatigue (B=9.55, p = .017) and decreased sleep duration (B=-61.1, p = .017). Emotional neglect was associated with increased insomnia (B=5.82, p < .0005), decreased sleep quality (B=3.55, p = .001), fatigue (B=8.68, p = .013), and decreased sleep duration (B=-86.22, p < .0005). When adjusted for other adverse childhood experience categories, emotional neglect had the strongest association with sleep outcomes, independently associated with insomnia (B=5.19, p = .003), sleep quality (B=2.95, p = .008), and sleep duration (B=-76.6, p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: We found a significant relationship between adverse childhood experiences and adverse sleep outcomes in this sample of collegiate athletes.

Neighborhood-level sleep health and childhood opportunities.

Objectives: Regional sleep differences may reflect other important indicators of health and well-being. Examining sleep health at the regional level can help inform policies to improve population health. We examined the relationship between neighborhood-level adult sleep health (modeled in this study via adult sleep duration) and other health metrics and multiple indicators of child-relevant opportunity. Methods: Data were obtained from the "500 Cities" data collected by the CDC, including the proportion of the adult population in each tract that report obtaining at least 7 h of sleep. The Child Opportunity Index (COI) provides indices for "education," "health and environment," and "social and economic" domains, as well as a global score. When data were merged, 27,130 census tracts were included. Linear regression analyses examined COI associated with the proportion of the adult population obtaining 7 h of sleep. Results: Adult sleep duration was associated with global COI, such that for each additional percent of the population that obtains ≥ 7 h of sleep, COI increases by 3.6 points (95%CI[3.57, 3.64]). Each component of COI was separately related to adult sleep duration. All associations were attenuated but significant in adjusted analyses. In stepwise analyses, sleep health via adult sleep duration emerged as the strongest correlate of global COI, accounting for 57.2% of the variance (p < 0.0001). Similarly, when stepwise analyses examined each component of COI as dependent variable, sleep health consistently emerged as the most substantial correlate (all p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Community levels of sufficient sleep are associated with greater childhood opportunities, which itself is robustly associated with a wide range of health and economic outcomes. Future work can examine whether this association can develop into scalable interventions.