Examining The Relationship Between Smoking Cigarettes and Experiences of Sleep Disturbances

Abstract

Research has shown there is a relationship between adolescent and young adult cigarette smokers and experiences of sleep disturbances. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between cigarette smoking and sleep disturbances, such as bad dreams, sleeping restlessly or falling asleep during the day among adolescent and young adult smokers who are participants in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study. Participants were (N = 25,049) adolescents and early adulthood participants (Mean age = 15.83, SD = 4.53) who answered the questions for the variables in this study. Approximately 55% of the participants reported significant problems with sleep trouble, such as bad dreams, sleeping restlessly or falling asleep during the day in the past month (29.7%), two to twelve months (13.8%), and over a year ago (11.3%) (measured using the Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviews [ACASI]). Approximately 54% of the same participants reported smoking daily (39.6%) or some days (14.1%) (measured using ACASI). The specific methods used in this study was a correlational test of the variables predicted to be positively related. It was hypothesized that there is a positive link between one's cigarette smoking and having significant difficulty with sleeping, such as bad dreams, sleeping restlessly or falling asleep during the day. Consistent with the hypothesis, current cigarette smoking was statistically significantly related to having significant difficulty with sleeping, such as bad dreams, sleeping restlessly or falling asleep during the day, resulting with r = .073 (p < .01) at the 0.01 level (1-tailed). The R² and adjusted R² = .005, and the ANOVA table revealed there is a statistically significant linear relationship between current smoking of cigarettes and having sleep disturbances such as bad dreams, sleeping restlessly or falling asleep during the day. These results suggest that as one’s cigarette smoking increases their experience with sleep disturbance, such as bad dreams, sleeping restlessly or falling asleep during the day increases. These results support the rejection of the null hypothesis of there being no statistically significant relationship between current cigarette smoking and having sleep disturbances. There is a weak positive correlation between current cigarette smoking and having sleep disturbances. It is concluded that cigarette smoking among young adults is associated with experiences of sleep disturbances. Future research is needed to determine the complex relationship between smoking and sleep disturbances; there are several other factors that should be considered, such as genetic factors, race/ethnicity, lifestyle choices and SES.