Social, Biological and Behavioral Factors Associated with Social Jet Lag and Sleep Duration in University Students from a Low Urbanized City.

INTRODUCTION

Sleep deprivation and social jet lag are observed in college students from highly urbanized cities. However, does these consequences also present in college students from a low urbanization city?

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the prevalence and social, biological and behavioral factors associated with sleep deprivation and social jet lag in university students from a low urbanized city of Brazil.

METHODS

A total of 298 university students participated in the study through application of the Health and Sleep and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaires. Multiple linear regression with stepwise-forward method was adopted to assess the associations of the factors with the outcome variables.

RESULTS

Doing leisure activities (LA) (B = 23.24) and academic demand (AD) before bedtime (B = 19.51), both on the weekend, and doing household chores (HC) before bedtime (B = 17.61) in the week were associated with an increase in social jet lag, while stimulating drinks (SD) were associated with a decrease (B = -15.17). Shorter sleep duration in the week was related to chronotype (B = -0.56), male (B = -26.51), doing LA (B = -27.63), poor perception about sleeping place (PPSP) (B = -43.02) and daily commute (B = -68.97). The shorter sleep duration in the weekend was associated to male (B = -36.36), PPSP (B = -58.16), have recreational and religious activities (B = -31.11), doing LA (B = -25.10) and AD (B = -23.60). Just chronotype was associated with longer sleep duration in the weekend (B = 0.25).

CONCLUSION

University students from a low urbanized city present social jet lag, shorter sleep duration on school days and longer sleep duration on free days as a result of biological and social factors, and mostly behavioral factors.