Many American college students have sleep patterns that may harm their education, driving abilities and health, according to researchers who also found that white noise may help improve students' sleep.

The researchers surveyed more than 300 college students and found that one-third took more than 30 minutes to fall asleep and 43 percent woke more than once per night, United Press International reported.

The findings are published in the Journal of American College Health.

In another study, the same researchers concluded that the use of continuous white noise may help improve college students' sleep. White noise decreased difficulty falling asleep and reduced night wakings in students who'd reported sleep problems, UPI reported.

That study was published in the journal Sleep and Hypnosis.