TY - JOUR

T1 - Blue Blocking Glasses Worn at Night in First Year Higher Education Students with Sleep Complaints

T2 - A Feasibility Study

AU - Perez Algorta, Guillermo Daniel

AU - van Meter, Anna

AU - Dubicka, Bernadka

AU - Jones, Steven Huntley

AU - Youngstrom, Eric A.

AU - Lobban, Anne Fiona

PY - 2018/11/1

Y1 - 2018/11/1

N2 - Background: Late adolescence and early adulthood is a period of highest incidence for onset of mental health problems. Transition to college environment has been associated with many risk factors such as the initial disruption - and subsequent irregularity - of the student's sleep and activity schedule. We tested the feasibility of using blue blocking glasses (BBG) at night in first year higher education students with sleep complaints, to obtain preliminary evidence for the impact of BBG on sleep, activity and mood.Methods: Participants were thirteen first year undergraduates (from 10 different academic courses) living on campus for first time with sleep complaints/disorders confirmed at screening via the Duke Structured Interview Schedule for Sleep Disorders. We used a two-week, balanced crossover design (BBG vs placebo glasses; participants were unaware which was the active intervention) with computer-generated random allocation. Exploratory analyses provided descriptive and frequency summaries to evaluate feasibility of the intervention. Results: Preliminary evidence supports the feasibility and acceptability of the trial; almost all screened participants consented and completed the protocol with high adherence, missing data were negligible. Additionally, the effectiveness of BBGs to enhance sleep, mood and activity levels in young adults was supported.Conclusions: The results of this feasibility trial suggest that BBG have potential as an inexpensive and feasible intervention for reducing sleep and circadian dysregulation in young adult students. A larger trial, following this successfully-implemented protocol, is necessary to fully test the efficacy of BBG.

AB - Background: Late adolescence and early adulthood is a period of highest incidence for onset of mental health problems. Transition to college environment has been associated with many risk factors such as the initial disruption - and subsequent irregularity - of the student's sleep and activity schedule. We tested the feasibility of using blue blocking glasses (BBG) at night in first year higher education students with sleep complaints, to obtain preliminary evidence for the impact of BBG on sleep, activity and mood.Methods: Participants were thirteen first year undergraduates (from 10 different academic courses) living on campus for first time with sleep complaints/disorders confirmed at screening via the Duke Structured Interview Schedule for Sleep Disorders. We used a two-week, balanced crossover design (BBG vs placebo glasses; participants were unaware which was the active intervention) with computer-generated random allocation. Exploratory analyses provided descriptive and frequency summaries to evaluate feasibility of the intervention. Results: Preliminary evidence supports the feasibility and acceptability of the trial; almost all screened participants consented and completed the protocol with high adherence, missing data were negligible. Additionally, the effectiveness of BBGs to enhance sleep, mood and activity levels in young adults was supported.Conclusions: The results of this feasibility trial suggest that BBG have potential as an inexpensive and feasible intervention for reducing sleep and circadian dysregulation in young adult students. A larger trial, following this successfully-implemented protocol, is necessary to fully test the efficacy of BBG.

KW - Blue blocking light

KW - Sleep

KW - Activity

KW - Mood

KW - Circadian

KW - Feasibility

U2 - 10.1186/s40814-018-0360-y

DO - 10.1186/s40814-018-0360-y

M3 - Journal article

VL - 4

JO - Pilot and Feasibility Studies

JF - Pilot and Feasibility Studies

SN - 2055-5784

M1 - 166

ER -