Introduction and Methods

Introduction 

Research has been conducted time and time again about the importance of sleep on academic performance. It is said that sleep is crucial when talking about school work and performance for students. College students specifically go through a transition from high school when they are on a set sleep schedule and veer away from it. This transition might make college students think they can stay up later because they don’t have parents telling them what to do. This leads to the question, is sleep affecting the academic performance of college students? A survey was conducted to see just how many college students feel their performance is affected by sleep. The results of this can be eye opening for college students and their sleep schedules along with their grades and GPA.  

Greg Voakes, author of the article The Importance of Getting Sleep in College, said that college students need to be getting on average of 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night, however, he found that only fifteen percent of college students actually get that much sleep (______). This is a very outstanding statistic and one that is not so shocking either. There are many factors that have to do with reasons for students staying up so late. One reason being homework and studying. College students feel that they need to cram and get a lot of studying done at night. This is the last thing they should be doing.  

In an article about why sleep is necessary for academic performance it was said, “New research also highlights the importance of sleep in learning and memory. Students getting adequate amounts of sleep performed better on memory and motor tasks than did students deprived of sleep” (______). This shows that if one doesn’t get a good amount of sleep each night, they are less likely to have important memory skills about material they learned in class. This is a crucial piece of information for all students regardless of what grade they are in because it would help come to a realization that sleep actually affects how much information we retain from learning. So, if one wants to have better recognition of what they learned in class, they need better and longer nights of sleep.   

The articles viewed showed that various mental states can get much worse with lack of sleep. In fact, college students who don’t sleep much are prone to getting some type of mental illness. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine tells us that college students are staying up and pulling “all-nighters” to finish their homework which doesn’t help their cognition during the day because they are sleep deprived. (_______). Being sleep deprived in the early years of being an adult can only make ones’ mental state worse later on in life. Greg Voakes in another article talks about all the negative factors that can eventually happen and often do happen to college students because of lack of sleep. “This irregular sleeping style can even lead to other sleep problems diagnosable by medical coding such as insomnia, snoring and even narcolepsy” (________). This is crucial information regarding sleep and everyday lives. Students are becoming mentally ill because of a lack of sleep every night trying to get school work and other obligations done. This can be very eye opening to students because it’s something that actually effects ones’ mental health. Usually, people do not think it is really important to get the full eight hours of sleep until they are aware of all of the possible outcomes due to lack of getting a full night's rest.  

Many of the articles viewed also gave the benefits of having a full night’s sleep for anyone but specifically college students. One article mentioned that sleep allows for the immune system to grow and stay healthy along with tissue repair and brain function (_______). The American Academy of Sleep Medicine said, “Recent studies have shown that adequate sleep is essential to feeling awake and alert, maintaining good health and working at peak performance” (______). This tells us that sleep is only benefiting our bodies and helping them stay healthy. Being more alert and awake helps college students focus on their academics more and helps to make their performance in top shape.  

This leads to the reason that a little amount of sleep can negatively impact grades because of the damage it can do to ones’ body. In order to remember skills and material necessary in the classroom, students must get the full 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep a night to make sure their sleep cycle stays the same and ensure that they will stay healthy both mentally and physically. “After two weeks of sleeping six hours or less a night, students feel as bad and perform as poorly as someone who has gone without sleep for 48 hours. New research also highlights the importance of sleep in learning and memory. Students getting adequate amounts of sleep performed better on memory and motor tasks than did students deprived of sleep” (______). This proves the importance of sleep on students’ brains and bodies. All college students should be aware of how much sleep can make an impact on their grades.  

Methods 

Participants: Those who participated in this survey were college students chosen randomly from all ages, freshman to senior year. 100 college students participated and answered questions that helped to lead towards results on this study.  

Procedure: Students were asked to complete an online survey where they were asked about their sleep schedules and the impact it has on their academic performance. They answered six different questions in which they asked, “What time do you usually go to bed on a school night?” “Do you get a full 8 hours of sleep?” Reason for staying up on a school night?” ‘Do you feel tired throughout the day?” “Do you believe your school work and performance is affected by the amount of sleep you get a night?” “Do you feel you struggle in school without having a good night sleep?” This survey was created through google sheets which then made the data into pie charts about the answers for each question. It was clear which answer majority of people had and what answer they didn’t.