Sleep attitudes as a predictor of risk for metabolic syndrome in college freshman

Abstract Introduction Transitions into adulthood and starting higher education can be a challenge in habit formation of first-year students. Unhealthy habits related to eating, exercise, substance consumption and sleep can lead to rapid weight gain and conditions such as metabolic syndrome. Research has suggested that regardless of sleep knowledge, favorable sleep attitudes predict better sleep. Thus, our aim was to investigate whether sleep attitudes directly predicted risk for metabolic syndrome or indirectly via subjective and objective sleep measures. Methods First year college students (N=165) completed self-report measures and were brought into the lab for height, weight, body fat, blood sugar and fats, and blood pressure analyses. Participants wore FitBit Flex wristwatches to collect sleep data for seven consecutive days. Preliminary correlational analyses were conducted on sleep and obesity measures. Two separate path analyses were conducted to investigate whether there was a direct effect of sleep attitude on risk for metabolic syndrome or indirect via subjective sleep (sleep quality, duration and apnea) and objective sleep (sleep efficiency, duration and apnea). Two moderated mediations were conducted to investigate the effects of gender and age. Results The average age was 18.66 (SD=3.33) with the majority of the sample being female (63%) and White (55.9%). In our subjective sleep analysis, we found that sleep attitudes predicted quality and duration, but not apnea, and that the overall model yielded significance. In our objective model, only apnea was a significant predictor, as well as the overall model. The indirect relationships were not moderated by gender or age. Conclusion Poor sleep attitudes are related to risk for metabolic syndrome in college aged individuals. Future studies should further examine sleep attitudes as a modifiable risk factor to prevent disease. Support (If Any) NA