Binge drinking and insomnia in students from health sciences at one university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In spite of the many studies examining alcohol consumption, recent reviews have indicated that binge drinking has not been extensively studied. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that sleep is associated with many physiological functions and to drug addictions. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between alcohol binge drinking and insomnia in college students of health sciences. All first-year health sciences students (n=286) were evaluated in a cross-sectional study. Envelopes containing the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), and questions capturing sociodemographic data were distributed and collected in classes. It was found that most non-drinkers were female (70.6%), although there were no sex-related differences in the number of binge drinkers (more than 5 drinks on each occasion at least once a week), allowing statistical comparison. The Mann-Whitney U test indicated that the ISI scores were significantly greater in female than male binge drinkers (P=0.014). Moderate or severe insomnia was reported by 23% of the sample, with alcohol being the most frequently associated substance. A specialized intervention was suggested by ASSIST: brief for marijuana (19.2%) and tobacco (23.3%) use, and moderate (31.5%) or intensive (1.4%) for alcohol consumers. The data highlighted the need to pay attention to the habits of college students beyond obtaining scientific information. New data suggesting the influence of genetics on insomnia may be of importance when performing additional studies on the sex differences in alcohol binge drinking.