The effect of sleep duration and consistency on perceived stress and salivary cortisol levels (2024)

Undergraduates: Alyssa Weninger, Pierce Whiteman, Sydney Wible, Ashlyn Tolbert

Faculty Advisor: Monica Gaudier-Diaz
Department: Psychology and Neuroscience

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With the high levels of stress experienced by college students in mind, this study examined the influence of sleep consistency and duration on salivary cortisol levels and perceived stress among college students. Participants recorded their sleep duration for 7 days, at the end of which, questionnaires that included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) were administered. After the 7 day period, an ELISA was used to measure the salivary cortisol levels. It was concluded that salivary cortisol levels did not correlate with the PSS and PSQ scores of the participants. The amount of nightly sleep also did not correlate with salivary cortisol levels or measures of perceived stress. Variance in the amount of sleep was found to be positively correlated with increased measures of perceived stress. These findings are important as they offer insight into important ways to target stress and improve mental health among college students.