Physical & Mental Performance in Relation to Sleep Final 1

This topic submitted by Sarah Brown, Nikki Martinkovic, Caroline Twombly, Tommy Watkins ( brownsm3@muohio.edu, martinnm@muohio.edu, twomblce@muohio.edu, watkintw@muohio.edu ) on 10/23/05. [Section: Myers]

Natural Systems 1 Syllabus---Western Program---Miami University

Sarah Brown
Nikki Martinkovic
Caroline Twombly
Tommy Watkins

STUDENT GENERATED LAB PROPOSAL
Physical & Mental Performance in Relation to Sleep

I. Introduction
How many times have you heard the saying, ÒYOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOUÕRE DEADÓ? First off, donÕt think you can put off sleep until youÕre dead because it is physically impossible to fully function under extreme lengths of sleep deprivation. College is supposed to be a time of both learning and socializing but rarely does a college student figure out the most efficient balance between work and play. The National Sleep Foundations found that "college-age students need the third greatest amount of sleep of any age group, right behind infants and children, yet are the most likely to give up their precious sleep hours if there isn't otherwise enough time to get things done" (National Sleep Foundation 2000). A student from The University of Vermont, Aja Varney, further proved that college aged students are most prone to giving up sleep when there is not enough hours in the day to get everything done. This is displayed in a graph (Sample Figure 1 below) by showing who would give up sleep when there are in fact not enough hours in the day to get everything done (Varney 2001). Sleep is a vital resource for human function, but ironically it is the first thing sacrificed by most students. In a recent study done by a student in the Department of Computer Applications in Agriculture and Life Studies at the University of Vermont found that Ò79% of college students are not getting enough sleepÓ and Ò33% reported that sleepiness interferes with Daily ActivitiesÓ (Evans et al 1977). Amy R. Wolfson and Mary A. Carskadon distributed sleep habit surveys to four high schools in Rhode Island, Òstatistically the study discovered that students who considered themselves struggling in a C to F range received about 25 minutes of less sleep on school nights than students with an average of A to BÓ (Wolfson and Carskadon 1998). Along food, sleep rejuvenates the body in order to keep our bodies running. It has been proven by a study conducted by Sarah Hensen, a health educator at the University of Iowa, Òin the United States, our average amount of sleep has decreased by 20 percent in the past century, while work and commuting time has increasedÓ (Hansen 2005). Not getting enough sleep seems to be a common occurrence among most Americans and by not getting enough sleep we are jeopardizing our quality of life. According to Hansen, Òadequate sleep is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle, and sleep has positive emotional and physical effectsÓ (Hansen 2005). Getting enough sleep is an essential part of life and holding it off until we are dead isnÕt the most responsible choice for healthy living.
After personally experiencing situations of obtaining insufficient sleep, weÕve come to the conclusion that lack of sleep has a negative affect on our bodies. Due to the minute amount of sleep that we have been constrained to, our stress levels have soared leaving us feeling lethargic and passive. It seems that lack of sleep not only causes stress but also affects our reaction time. The less amount of sleep we get the longer it takes to react. In fact, many studies have been done concluding that exact prediction. In the Science News, Ben Harder discusses his study on physicians who received insufficient amount of sleep throughout a month long period. He explains Òfatigued physicians show impairments in driving and other tasks requiring constant attention and quick reactionsÓ (Harder 2005). We predict that one cannot fully function to the best of their ability when running on insufficient amount of sleep in all aspects of life whether it be driving or doing homework. Anne Novitt-Moreno discusses in her article Òteens who donÕt sleep enough, according to doctors, not only get lower grades, they also risk more frequent car crashes. Knowing this, doctors in the Minnesota Medical Association actually wrote to superintendents of that stateÕs of 450 school districts urging them not to open high schools before 8amÓ (Novitt-Moreno 1998). Overall, students who get less sleep do not function entirely and through various studies this prediction has been reported as a prospective conclusion in that lack of sleep does affect daily activities.
In these regards, it is obvious that a person who lacks a sufficient amount of sleep has a harder time functioning daily. In particular, lack of sleep negatively influences academic performance in our daily lives. Evans discusses Epstein and his colleagues, observations which are, Òless total sleep time was associated with daytime fatigue, inability to concentrate in school, and tendency to dose off in classÓ (Evans et al 1977). Due to the insufficient amount of sleep many college students are getting at night, it seems that they are attempting to make up the sleep they lost during the day. Naps during the day are both ways to attempt to get caught up and a mental refresher. Evans, Cook, Cohen, Emily Onre, and Martin OnreÕs study on ÒAppetitive and Replacement Naps: EEG and BehaviorsÓ showed that Òabout 22% of the 261 nappers were classified as appetitive nappers and 78% napped primarily for replacement reasonsÓ (Evans et al 1977). Appetitive refers primarily to people who nap for Òphysiological benefitsÓ even though they arenÕt tired (Evans et al 1977). Through this experiment, we plan to prove that sleep deprivation has a negative effect on physical and mental overall health.
Sample Figure 1.1 Graph on Students and Sleep Sacrifice

II. Materials and Methods

In order to study the effects that lack of sleep has on individuals we need to determine how much sleep they are currently getting. We will begin this experiment by administering eight questions to our fifty subjects. These preliminary questions are extremely important to our study. This background information on our subjects is needed because we find it necessary to obtain their standards. When discovering our subjectÕs habits we can better understand our subjects and create a more successful analysis.
In addition to the eight questions, we created a log (see Sample Figure 2 below) for phase one that extends for a period of seven days in which our subjects will record their bedtime and waking time, as well as any other periods of sleep that occurred throughout the day. Since we are administering our logs to twenty-five men and twenty-five women we are color coding them to make it easier to distinguish the logs while we are analyzing the data. The menÕs logs will be on green paper and the womenÕs logs will be on pink paper. This log will begin on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 and will end on Tuesday, November 8, 2005. After this period comes to conclusion we will retrieve the log from our subjects and begin to analyze our data. By collecting this data we are able to categorize who receives sufficient amount of sleep, if anybody. Once obtaining the sleep logs from our subjects we will look at each individual log and add up all the hours of sleep that theyÕve had during that week. We will then take their total and subtract it from 56 hours because that is the suggested amount of sleep for the average adult as suggested by Larson, Kemp, and Segal , ÒFor most adults 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleepÓ ( Larson et al 2005). By subtracting their total from 56 we are able to gauge how much sleep they should have obtained, keeping in mind that some people are able to function just as well on less than 8 hours of sleep a night compared to people who have gotten 8 hours of sleep a night. We will refer to subjects who have received less than twenty-eight hours of sleep a week as having an insufficient amount of sleep. Subjects who received twenty-eight to forty-nine hours of sleep a week will be categorized as having a medium amount of sleep Subjects that received forty-nine to fifty-six plus hours will be categorized as having a sufficient amount of sleep that is suggested by researchers mentioned above. We are passing out our sleep logs to fifty-people, twenty-five being men and twenty-five being woman. Our intention is to compare the men who run on an inadequate amount of sleep with the woman who run on an inadequate amount of sleep in hopes of determining which gender tends to be less stressed. A study Bubboltiz and colleagues found that out of 95 men and 96 women ÒA large majority (73%) of the students indicated at least occasional sleep problems, with women reporting more of some difficulties than man didÓ (Bubboltiz et al 2001). This study leads us into phase two of our research.
Phase two is based upon the idea of stress as a result of getting insufficient amount of sleep. R.E Dahl reported in his article, Consequences of Insufficient Sleep for Adolescents, that Ònot enough sleep may show an increase in irritability and less tolerance for situations that create negative emotions depending on the psychological profile of the individualÓ (Dahl 1999) . In our research we will analyze the assessment questions that were located underneath the sleep log. These daily questions pertain to daily activities that indicate stress. Each question is designed specifically so that it has a positive and negative answer choice but it depends on each individual question. For example, a ÒyesÓ answer does not always indicate a positive response as well as a ÒnoÓ answer does not always represent a negative response. Based on their answers to the ÒYes or NoÓ assessment questions we will categorize them as follows: the negative answers as stressed and the positive answers as not stressed. We will take in to account each individualÕs amount of sleep they received which is recorded in the weekly logs. Through this assessment, we will be able to analyze how insufficient amount of sleep and negative stress affects healthy lifestyles.
We will then administer a reaction time test which was created by Robert J. Wood Designs (Wood 2005). We will ask our subjects to conclude our research by taking this final examination to test their reaction time. The background color on the website will change at varying times at which the subject is to click to acknowledge a change in the background. This website records how long it takes the individual to click the screen which represents their reaction time. Through a variety of trials of different reaction tests, we find that this test gages the reaction time of each individual fairly, accurately, and unbiased. The other reaction tests we found were more vulnerable to human error.
With all this gathered information, we plan on collaborating our data to see whether or not insufficient amount of sleep has a negative effect on physical and mental overall health. In conclusion, we will reward our subjects for their cooperation and commitment to our research.

Sample Figure 2: Sleep and Stress Logs

PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS
* Do you tend to worry about your daily tasks? Y____ N____
*When you have a lot of things to do, do you have an increase in skin breakouts?
Y____ N____
*Have you ever fallen asleep during class this year? Y____ N____
*If yes, do you consistently fall asleep in class? Y____ N____
*What class do you normally fall asleep in and what time?
*Do you exercise on a regular basis? Y____ N____
*If yes, do you ever feel like you donÕt want to exercise because you are too tired?
Y____ N____
*Do you tend to eat at the same time everyday? Y____ N____

DAY TO DAY SLEEP LOG
Monday
Woke up at:
___:___
Went to bed at:
___:___
Nap: ___(time)
Total amount of sleep:
_____hours, _____minutes

DAY TO DAY QUESTIONS
*Do you tend to worry about your daily tasks? Y____ N____
*Did you get all of your work done today? Y____ N____
*Are you worried about the work you did not finish, if any? Y____ N____
*Rate the amount of anxiety felt overall today from 0 to 10; keep in mind this is in comparison to your average day.
________
0 = none
5 = medium amount
10 = excessive amount

*Did you experience any headaches today? Y____ N____
*If yes, rate them from 0 to 10. ________

PRILIMINARY QUESTIONS

*When you have a lot of things to do, do you have an increase in skin breakouts? Y____ N____
*Have you ever fallen asleep during class this year? Y____ N____
*If yes, do you consistently fall asleep in class? Y____ N____
*What class do you normally fall asleep in and what time?
*Do you exercise on a regular basis? Y____ N____
*If yes, do you feel like you donÕt want to exercise because you are too tired? Y___ N___
*Do you feel like you need to take naps? Y____ N____
*Do you feel lethargic and reach for snacks and/or caffeinated beverages to stimulate yourself more than normal? Y____ N____
*Do you eat at the same time on a regular basis? Y____ N____
*Do you feel there is any abnormality in your appetite? Y____ N____

II. Our Day
On our day of teaching we will be enlightening the class with our results of lack of sleep affecting your daily life with the following factors; stress and reaction time. We would first like to engage in a stand up activity and ask the students various questions about sleep. Following that we want to split up the class into half depending on their sleep from the previous night. After dividing up the class, we want to play a game and see which side does better. Could the more sleep deprived students outperform the well rested? Following the activity, we will turn off the lights and tell the students to take a five minute power nap. We plan of taking the students by surprise with a phony, but comical commercial on sleep deprivation. We will then provide the class with a power point presentation beginning with an outline of our entire project. It will outline our entire time spent of this project. Next in the power point we will expand and explain our various phases and data. This will primarily include our three different phases.

IV. Results
We feel that sleep deprivation is a big problem in college, especially with architecture and interior design majors. With our results we want to show students that there is a positive correlation between sleep deprivation and its negative consequences mentally and physically. Though we are not certified doctors to provide students with licensed treatments or remedies, we hope to highlight the importance of sleep and the positive outcome of it.

V. Discussion:
We were thinking of categorizing our data by separating our subjects from Architecture/Interior Design majors from Western majors. This data would show the amount of sleep one gets and if it correlates with their major. However we discovered a previous Natural Systems lab group that compared stress levels of Architecture/Interior Design students and Western students. They found ÒAfter examining individualÕs data, all cases were found to be inconclusive, therefore no distinction could be made between the stress levels of Architecture/Interior Design majors and Western majorsÓ (Weisbecker et al 1). . A possible substitution for our Preliminary questions could be finding 25 random students on main campus to collect data that will serve as a control to the sleep times of Architecture/ Interior Design majors vs. Western majors (Tartaglia et al 2004). We came across this idea after we were reviewing previous Natural Systems lab groupÕs studies.
Another procedure we were thinking about doing is seeing if night/morning affects ones reaction time. We thought that maybe we could collect data in the morning and at night to see if in the morning, when one is more alert, differentiates between one who took it at night, who is less attentive. We were going to accomplish this by reaction tests we found online. We wanted to see if testing someone in the middle of the night would have different results than if we tested them during the day. In the middle of the night most people are prone to be more tired and their brains work slower and less affective whereas in the morning oneÕs brain is typically more alert. A possible substitution for our Preliminary questions could be finding 25 random students on main campus to collect data that will serve as a control to the sleep times of Architecture/ Interior Design majors vs. Western majors. We hope our study is able to emphasize the importance of sleep and show the negative effects of sleep deprivation.

Works Cited
*Buboltz, Walter C., Franklin Brown, and Barlow Soper. "Sleep Habits and Patterns of College Students: A Preliminary Study." Journal of American College Health ns 3 (2001).. 19 Oct. 2005
"College Kids and the Amount of Sleep." 2000. National Sleep Foundation. 19 Oct. 2005
*Dahl, R E. Phi Delta Kappan. 1999. Consequences of insufficient sleep for adolescents. 19 Oct. 2005.
Evans, Frederick R., Mary R. Cook, Harvey D. Cohen, Emily C. Orne, and Martin T. Orne. "Appetitive and Replacement Naps: EEG and Behavior." Science ns 197 (1977): 687-689. JSTOR. 19 Oct. 2005.
Hansen, Sarah. "Fitting Sleep Into a College Schedule." College Health Tips. Dec. 2003. Student Health Services, University of Iowa. 22 Oct. 2005
Harder, Ben. "Dead Tired." Science News 168 (2005). Academic Search premier. 21 Oct. 2005
Larson, Heather, Gina Kemp, and Robert Segal. "How much sleep do I need?" Getting the Sleep You Need: Sleep Stages, Sleep Tips and Aids. 13 Apr. 2005. Center for Healthy Aging, Santa Monica. 19 Oct. 2005
Novitt-Moreno, Anne. "WHY SLEEP?" Current Health 2 25 (1998): 6-7. Academic Search premier. 21 Oct. 2005
Tartaglia, Brandon, Alex Hochstetler, Drew Schreiner, Evin Teska, and Lindsay Schmid, comps. We architects cannot "Stress" enough. 7 Oct. 2004. Natural Systems, Miami University. 19 Oct. 2005
Varney, Aja. "Sleep in the College Life." 19 Apr. 2001. Computer Applications in Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Vermont. 19 Oct. 2005
Weisbecker, Liz, Sarah Peterson, Matt Dudzik, and Becky Singson, comps. Stress and Amount of Sleep (Okay... and BE STILL!). 19 Apr. 2002. Natural Systems, Miami University. 21 Oct. 2005
Wolfson, Amy R., and Mary A. Carskadon. "Sleep Schedules and Daytime Functioning in Adolescents." Child Development 69 (1998): 875-887. JSTOR. 19 Oct. 2005
Wood, Robert J. "Reaction Time." 29 Aug. 2005. TopEndSportsNetwork. 22 Oct. 2005

*To access these articles, you must go to and type in ÒThe Impact of Sleep on Learning and Behavior in AdolescentsÓ, due to the fact that the website, < http://journals.ohiolink.edu/local-cgi/send-pdf/05092119035558420.pdf> terminates one hour after viewing the article.

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