Some causes of poor sleep among college students include:

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• A demanding social life

With a new found freedom, it is often hard for college students to say no to social opportunities even when they should be sleeping instead.​

• A heavy academic load

Students will often stay up late into the night studying and completing school assignments that they could not get to during the day.​

• A distracting sleep environment

Sometimes roommates/hall-mates can be loud, and dorm rooms can often be distracting with everything being within a few feet of your bed.​

• An irregular sleep schedule

College can be very spontaneous, and this can make it hard for students to adhere to a consistent sleep schedule. Instead they often fit sleep in whenever they have time.​

• A heightened level of stress 

So much goes on in college and students constantly have things to get done. These things can add a lot of stress when not balanced properly and stress makes it difficult to sleep.​

• A change in environment 

College is usually the time when students transition from being kids under their parents' house to being independent adults, and this transition can sometimes mess with their sleep schedule.​

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