Binghamton Research Days Student Presentations

A Good Night’s Sleep? The Relationship Between Nighttime Cortisol Levels and Various Aspects of Sleep Quality

Lauren Wong (First-year, Nursing); Eric Hoffman (Faculty, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences); Paul Visich (Faculty, University of New England); Rebecca Place (Faculty, University of New England)

Mentor: Kimberly Jaussi, School of Management

Abstract
Cortisol is a well known stress hormone that is predicted to have a myriad of effects on sleep quality. Cortisol has been associated with less sleep and high sleep disturbances. The current study aims to analyze the relationship between nighttime cortisol levels and one’s quality of sleep, hours of sleep, number of awakenings, and hours awake. The results show that there is no significant correlation between cortisol levels and minutes of sleep. The results also show that there is also no significant correlation between cortisol levels and number of awakenings and between cortisol levels and awakening lengths. This study can lead to further investigations of the relationships between cortisol and various aspects of sleep.