The Relationships between Life Satisfaction and Sleep Quality, Sleep Duration and Variability of Sleep in University Students

Abstract

Life satisfaction and its relationship to aspects of sleep were investigated in 701 Norwegian university students using recreated sleep logs, questions about sleep-related experiences, a sleep quality item and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. The results indicated that better sleep quality, longer mean sleep duration, less variability in sleep duration and less variability in rise time were all associated with greater life satisfaction, but only sleep quality and variability of sleep duration were significant predictors of life satisfaction in a regression model. Consistent with previous research, the results emphasize the importance of sleep quality, and adds to existing research by suggesting that in some populations, variability of sleep duration might be more relevant to well-being than sleep duration itself.