Introduction This paper will evaluate the difference between Sleepiness, Loneliness and Social Connectedness between a higher education and mundane sample. Although current literature evaluates the role of Sleepiness within Higher education (Araújo et al, 2021), to the best of our knowledge there are no papers comparing a student population to a non-student sample.

A significant difference between the subjective sleepiness scores of a student and non-student population is expected, which would demonstrate that a student sample perceive themselves to be sleepier than their non-student counterparts.

Methods An online survey was administered to 202 participants via Qualtrics. 94 were non-students and 108 were higher education students. Sleepiness was measured using the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (Shahid et al, 2011), The UCLA Loneliness Scale was used to measure loneliness (Russell, 1980).

Results An independent t-test showed that there was a significant difference between students and non-students subjective sleepiness scores. (t(200) = 2.23, p = 0.02) with students being significantly more like to rate themselves higher on the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. (Figure 1).

Further analysis shows that Loneliness and Subjective Sleepiness are significantly correlated for a student sample (r (108) = 0.308, P = 0.001).

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Abstract 4 Figure 1

Demonstrates the average Sleepiness scores for students and non-students

Discussion This study suggests that students enrolled within higher education are more highly associated with the risks of Excessive daytime Sleepiness and the resultant detrimental effects on social health. Further research needs to be performed to determine the negative effects of Sleepiness on Student’s social health.