Daily Associations between Stress and Sleep: Extending the Knowledge Base using Intensive Longitudinal Designs with Repeated Ecological Momentary Assessments and Objective Measures

Stress and sleep are linked, and they are important determinants of health. However, our current understanding of this relationship is limited to how people differ from one another (e.g., whether poor sleepers experience higher stress); how changes in stress or sleep can mutually influence one another within a person is still poorly understood. Thus, this thesis examines the daily stress-sleep relationships in everyday life. We found that an individual’s nightly fluctuations in sleep predict higher stress levels the next day. This thesis offers evidence of these daily processes and informs theoretical and practical implications for future research and interventions.