# Improving Sleep Quality During the Transition to College

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2022 · $670,204

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Sleep disruption during college presents a significant public health concern, with studies documenting
clinically-significant sleep disruption in 40-60% of college students. Poor sleep contributes to rising anxiety,
depression, and loneliness as well as declining positive affect, motivation, and sense of purpose faced by
many students as they attempt to navigate a successful path through college. Disrupted sleep also negatively
impacts physical health, in part through upregulating inflammatory processes that can have acute and more
chronic effects on mental and physical health.
 In response, many colleges and universities have embarked on efforts to improve the sleep hygiene of their
students. The challenge is to identify programs that can simultaneously improve sleep, be delivered at scale,
and be easily completed by students. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), including a six-week Mindful
Awareness Practices (MAPs) intervention developed by our group, have been shown to improve sleep quality
and associated psychosocial and biological outcomes among adults. MBIs are well-positioned between
interventions targeting clinical insomnia (e.g., CBT-I) and mass-delivered sleep education programs, the latter
of which have been rolled-out by many universities despite evidence of limited effectiveness. Only four
published RCTs, however, have tested the effect of MBIs among college students and none targeted sleep as
a primary outcome.
 To address this important public health problem, we propose to conduct a randomized controlled trial
(RCT) of 240 first-year college students at a four-year university that serves an ethnically and economically
diverse student population. Our two-arm, parallel group RCT will test the efficacy of the validated, group-
based, six-week MAPs intervention vs. sleep education, an active time and attention matched control
condition, for students who report poor sleep at this critical transition year. Effects will be assessed at post-
intervention and at 3-, 9-, and 12-month follow-ups to assess persistence. Our project brings together a diverse
team with expertise in sleep, mindfulness-based interventions, and youth development to pursue four aims: (1)
determine effects of MAPs vs. sleep education on subjective and objective markers of sleep; (2) evaluate
effects of MAPs vs. sleep education on negative and positive psychosocial symptoms associated with sleep
disruption; (3) determine effects of MAPs vs. sleep education on inflammatory processes associated with sleep
disruption and relevant for long-term health; and (4) explore potential sex and ethnic variations in intervention
effects.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10444767
- **Project number:** 1R01HD105904-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** JULIENNE E BOWER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $670,204
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-05-20 → 2027-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10444767

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10444767, Improving Sleep Quality During the Transition to College (1R01HD105904-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10444767. Licensed CC0.

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