Associations between sleep hygiene and secondary objective sleep parameters: moving beyond sleep duration.

UNLABELLED: The present study sought to better understand the relationship between a broad range of sleep hygiene behaviours and important but under researched objective sleep outcomes: total time spent awake after sleep onset (WASO), the number of awakenings (NWAK) during the night, and sleep onset latency (SOL). Secondary data from a 14-day repeated measures design among 74 undergraduate students was analysed using linear mixed models to determine the between and within-person associations of 32 sleep hygiene behaviours with objectively measured sleep outcomes. Later bedtimes and earlier wake-times were significantly associated with better sleep at both the between and within-person levels. More frequent napping was associated with increased NWAK and greater WASO. More frequent occurrences of falling asleep with music or the TV on, eating too much food before bed, and alcohol use were each only associated with an increased NWAK. Having an unpleasant conversation before bed and sleeping in a poorly ventilated environment were associated with greater WASO. Differential associations with sleep hygiene and individual sleep outcomes suggest that sleep hygiene could be reframed to incorporate sleep more holistically and more carefully consider which sleep parameter is being impacted.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10865-026-00634-w.