Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sleep duration and self-rated health in Chinese university students

  • Epidemiology • Original Article
  • Published:
Sleep and Breathing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Little is known about the association between sleep duration and health status in Chinese university students. This study examined the association between sleep duration and self-rated health in university students in China.

Methods

Altogether, 2312 subjects (928 in Macao, 446 in Hong Kong, and 938 in mainland China) were recruited. Standardized measures of sleep and self-reported health were administered. Sleep duration was categorized in the following way: < 6 h/day, 6 to < 7 h/day, 7–9 h/day, and > 9 h/day.

Results

Overall, 71% of university students reported poor health, 53% slept 7–9 h/day, 14% slept less than 6 h/day, 32% slept 6 to < 7 h/day, and 1% slept > 9 h/day. Univariate analysis revealed that compared to students with medium sleep duration (7–9 h/day), those with short sleep duration (< 6 h/day and 6 to < 7 h/day) were more likely to report poor health. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found that after controlling for age, gender, body mass index, university location, being a single child, religious beliefs, interest in academic major, academic pressure, nursing major, pessimism about the future, and depression, sleep duration of less than 6 h/day (odds ratio (OR) 1.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.34–2.92, p < 0.01) was independently and significantly associated with poor self-reported health.

Conclusions

Poor health status is common in Chinese university students, which appears to be closely associated with short sleep duration. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to gain a better understanding of the interaction between sleep patterns and health status in university students.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Krittanawong C, Tunhasiriwet A, Wang Z, Zhang H, Farrell AM, Chirapongsathorn S, Sun T, Kitai T, Argulian E (2017) Association between short and long sleep durations and cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care:2048872617741733

  2. Buxton OM, Marcelli E (2010) Short and long sleep are positively associated with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease among adults in the United States. Soc Sci Med 71:1027–1036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Patel SR, Hu FB (2008) Short sleep duration and weight gain: a systematic review. Obesity (Silver Spring) 16:643–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Iftikhar IH, Donley MA, Mindel J, Pleister A, Soriano S, Magalang UJ (2015) Sleep duration and metabolic syndrome. An updated dose-risk meta-analysis. Ann Am Thorac Soc 12:1364–1372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhai L, Zhang H, Zhang D (2015) Sleep duration and depression among adults: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Depress Anxiety 32:664–670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. da Silva AA, de Mello RG, Schaan CW, Fuchs FD, Redline S, Fuchs SC (2016) Sleep duration and mortality in the elderly: a systematic review with meta-analysis. BMJ Open 6:e008119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Crossley TF, Kennedy S (2002) The reliability of self-assessed health status. J Health Econ 21:643–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Geiger SD, Sabanayagam C, Shankar A (2012) The relationship between insufficient sleep and self-rated health in a nationally representative sample. J Environ Public Health:518263

  9. Shankar A, Charumathi S, Kalidindi S (2011) Sleep duration and self-rated health: the national health interview survey 2008. Sleep 34:1173–1177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mossey JM, Shapiro E (1982) Self-rated health: a predictor of mortality among the elderly. Am J Public Health 72:800–808

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Frange C, de Queiroz SS, da Silva Prado JM, Tufik S, de Mello MT (2014) The impact of sleep duration on self-rated health. Sleep Sci 7:107–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chasens ER, Yang K, Baniak LM, Choi J, Imes CC (2018) Sleep and other correlates of high-level health in older adults. Geriatr Nurs 39:344–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Magee CA, Caputi P, Iverson DC (2011) Relationships between self-rated health, quality of life and sleep duration in middle aged and elderly Australians. Sleep Med 12:346–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM, Alessi C, Bruni O, DonCarlos L, Hazen N, Herman J, Katz ES, Kheirandish-Gozal L, Neubauer DN, O'Donnell AE, Ohayon M, Peever J, Rawding R, Sachdeva RC, Setters B, Vitiello MV, Ware JC, Adams Hillard PJ (2015) National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary. Sleep Health 1:40–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Stefan L, Juranko D, Prosoli R, Baric R, Sporis G (2017) Self-reported sleep duration and self-rated health in young adults. J Clin Sleep Med 13:899–904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Steptoe A, Peacey V, Wardle J (2006) Sleep duration and health in young adults. Arch Intern Med 166:1689–1692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Stranges S, Dorn JM, Shipley MJ, Kandala NB, Trevisan M, Miller MA, Donahue RP, Hovey KM, Ferrie JE, Marmot MG, Cappuccio FP (2008) Correlates of short and long sleep duration: a cross-cultural comparison between the United Kingdom and the United States: the Whitehall II Study and the Western New York Health Study. Am J Epidemiol 168:1353–1364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bin YS, Marshall NS, Glozier N (2012) Secular trends in adult sleep duration: a systematic review. Sleep Med Rev 16:223–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Hale L, Do DP (2007) Racial differences in self-reports of sleep duration in a population-based study. Sleep 30:1096–1103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Yang CM, Wu CH, Hsieh MH, Liu MH, FH. L (2003) Coping with sleep disturbances among young adults: a survey of first-year college students in Taiwan. Behav Med 29:133–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhang YX (2006) The relativity research of university students’ sleep method and physical endowment health in the school in Jiangsu [in Chinese. Journal of Nanjing Institute of Physical Education 20:15–18

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ma YH (2009) Investigation of health risk behavior among college students in Zhejiang and Guangxi areas [in Chinese. Chinese Journal of Health Education 25:890–893

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Beck AT, Ward CH, Mendelson M, Mock J, Erbaugh J (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 4:561–571

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Pan XF, Wen Y, Zhao Y, Hu JM, Li SQ, Zhang SK, Li XY, Chang H, Xue QP, Zhao ZM, Gu Y, Li CC, Zhang YQ, Sun XW, Yang CX, Fu C (2016) Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its correlates among medical students in China: a national survey in 33 universities. Psychol Health Med 21:882–889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Goldman SE, Ancoli-Israel S, Boudreau R, Cauley JA, Hall M, Stone KL, Rubin SM, Satterfield S, Simonsick EM, Newman AB (2008) Sleep problems and associated daytime fatigue in community-dwelling older individuals. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 63:1069–1075

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Leproult R, Van Cauter E (2010) Role of sleep and sleep loss in hormonal release and metabolism. Endocr Dev 17:11–21

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Suarez EC (2008) Self-reported symptoms of sleep disturbance and inflammation, coagulation, insulin resistance and psychosocial distress: evidence for gender disparity. Brain Behav Immun 22:960–968

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Keckeis M, Lattova Z, Maurovich-Horvat E, Beitinger PA, Birkmann S, Lauer CJ, Wetter TC, Wilde-Frenz J, Pollmacher T (2010) Impaired glucose tolerance in sleep disorders. PLoS One 5:e9444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Hughes AJ, Parmenter BA, Haselkorn JK, Lovera JF, Bourdette D, Boudreau E, Cameron MH, Turner AP (2017) Sleep and its associations with perceived and objective cognitive impairment in individuals with multiple sclerosis. J Sleep Res 26:428–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Wang S, Li B, Wu Y, Ungvari GS, Ng CH, Fu Y, Kou C, Yu Y, Sun HQ, Xiang YT (2017) Relationship of sleep duration with sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, mental health, and chronic diseases in a large Chinese adult population. J Clin Sleep Med 13:377–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Alvarez GG, Ayas NT (2004) The impact of daily sleep duration on health: a review of the literature. Prog Cardiovasc Nurs 19:56–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Yamada C, Moriyama K, Takahashi E (2012) Self-rated health as a comprehensive indicator of lifestyle-related health status. Environ Health Prev Med 17:457–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kim JH, Kim KR, Cho KH, Yoo KB, Kwon JA, Park EC (2013) The association between sleep duration and self-rated health in the Korean general population. J Clin Sleep Med 9:1057–1064

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The study was funded by the University of Macau (MYRG2015-00230-FHS; MYRG2016-00005-FHS), the National Key Research & Development Program of China (No. 2016YFC1307200), the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Incubating Program (No. PX2016028), and the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals’ Ascent Plan (No. DFL20151801).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Lu Li, Ka-In Lok, Song-Li Mei and Xi-Ling Cui contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (Guangzhou Huiai Hospital), Guangzhou, China

    Lu Li & Yu-Ping Ning

  2. Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, 3/F, Building E12, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa SAR, Macau, China

    Lu Li, Ka-In Lok & Yu-Tao Xiang

  3. Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macao, SRA, China

    Ka-In Lok

  4. School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Song-Li Mei

  5. Department of Business Administration, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, SAR, China

    Xi-Ling Cui

  6. Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Lin Li

  7. Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Chee H. Ng

  8. University of Notre Dame Australia, Perth, Australia

    Gabor S. Ungvari

  9. Division of Psychiatry, University of Western Australia School of Medicine, Perth, Australia

    Gabor S. Ungvari

  10. The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital & the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Feng-Rong An

Authors
  1. Lu Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ka-In Lok
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Song-Li Mei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xi-Ling Cui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lin Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Chee H. Ng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Gabor S. Ungvari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Yu-Ping Ning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Feng-Rong An
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Yu-Tao Xiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Feng-Rong An or Yu-Tao Xiang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, L., Lok, KI., Mei, SL. et al. Sleep duration and self-rated health in Chinese university students. Sleep Breath 23, 1351–1356 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-019-01856-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-019-01856-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation