Analyzing Sleeping Patterns Between Western Majors and Architecture Majors

Student Generated Labs
Analyzing Sleeping Patterns Between Architecture Students and Western Majors

Abstract:
Our goal is to recognize the differences between Western majors and Architecture majors pertaining to their sleeping habit. We are relating the amount of sleep to the different levels of stress. Our hypothesis is that Western first year majors sleep more often
and for longer periods of time thus making them more laid back. We believe that Architecture first year majors experience high stress levels due to time consuming activities and obligations which in turn means less sleep.
Introduction:
The main purpose of our student generated lab is to relate stress to sleeping habits within the Western Campus. Differences have been observed between Western majors and Architecture majors. In many discussions, it has been stated that Architecture students seem to be more high strung than Western majors. This is possibly due to the
lack of sleep Architecture students receive. Western majors have been found to nap more frequently and also approach deadlines, tests, or homework assignments with a relaxed attitude. Whereas Architecture students find themselves enduring long hours into the night at studio, or cramming in last minute readings in their readers and getting into bed at unreasonable hours. From this lack of sleep, we would like to prove that it causes Architecture students to feel pressured with the current work load. We then would like to relate the lack of sleep to tension felt from Western classes and Studio work.
We decided to research this topic for various reasons. The most prevalent reason is the comments made by other students on the Western Campus. It has been discussed among Architecture students that Western majors seem to have more free time and spend
most of it taking ìpower naps.î
In order to create unbiased results, we created a survey to find out formally if our hypothesis was indeed correct. The questions to be asked concern sleep amounts, work load, and other factors that would influence stress levels and sleeping habits. Along with
these questions we would also like to know some study habits of the randomly selected first years. We address the conditions of academic drive, involvement, outside demands, diet, gender, and personal ranking of stress levels.
We plan to achieve a better understanding of the relation to sleep and stress. This will be done by analyzing the collected data and organizing it to find if Western majors are more laid back due to the amount of sleep they receive. By the same token, we can show
that Architecture students are more high strung with work load and lack of sleep. If our results prove that our hypothesis is correct, it would be helpful in creating a happy medium in regards to both majors and their course loads.
This topic is intriguing to all on the Western Campus because it includes the entire community. It is also frequently discussed in general conversation. The results could be beneficial in helping to understand the differences of the two majors. Which in turn could
later be used in lowering some class requirements to a moderate standard.

Relevance:
Our research can be applied to a larger question relating how humans respond to lack of sleep. With the information found other ideas of later research can be formed. It can be useful in understanding all of the affects of sleep or lack thereof and relating it not only to stress levels but other factors as well. The results may influence how humans relate to each other and to daily demands.

Materials:

Survey
Microsoft Word and Works
20, 1st year Architect major students
20, 1st year Western major students

Methods:

To initiate this experiment, our group began by brainstorming ideas that would affect or better help us understand the sleeping habits of 1st year Western major and Architect major students. The area of topics we believe will help us understand and explain sleeping habits are : general level of stress one feels, the amount of sleep one gets each day, study habits, involvement in extracurricular activities, class rank/ high school grade point average (GPA), gender, roommate issues, and finally eating habits/
nutritional intake. By asking these such inquiries we will fully acess thedifference in sleeping habits of the Architect students vs. the Western students.

To conduct this experiment we will first generate a questioner / survey that will ask ( in some detail ) about the subjects we listed above. The survey will also pertain to only a single day, thus all the questions will be in response to one particular day, in stead of in general. The survey will be passed out to 20 Architect major students and 20 Western major students, to give us a total of 40 students surveyed. The survey will be passed out at 3 different times in the semester to the same people. The date on which the survey will be passed out will be determined by the 1st year Western studentís general schedule and syllabus; meaning that the
survey will not be passed out one day before any test or major due date. The survey will relate to a day in which there is no major school assignment for at least two days. The level of importance for a school assignment will be determined by our group at a point in time prior to passing out the first survey. The date in which the survey applies to will be listed on the top of the page. The questioner will also ask that the author write down their name. Member(s) of our group will retrieve the survey and then we will begin computing data. Since we will know the name of everyone who is answering the survey and since oneís GPA will not change with in the semester we will only need to collect such data as gender, and class rank/GPA once. The rest of the data will collected every time and will be sorted, first by date, then by major, then by category. After collecting all three surveys and compiling the data, our
group will then cross-reference the information. By comparing the data we will determine the general similarities and differences in the sleeping habits of 1st year Architect major and Western major students.

As a class exercise and to further help us understand the sleeping habits of 1st year Architecture and Western major students, we plan to conduct a separate survey. This survey will be given the day before a test and will be a one time questionaire. The survey will contain the same questions that the original survey includes. An equal number of western and architect students will be given this particular survey. The reason that this survey will be considered separate is because the date in which it will be given is the day before an exam / test. The reason for this inquiry and the date
on which it will be given on is because it is the only controlled time that can be most fairly considered a high stress duration for both Architect and Western major students. The data will be separated in the same fashion that the original survey is to be done.

A chart with all the data for the original survey and the one-time survey will be complied into different charts and sub-charts. The charts will be organized by date, and major. Each chart will contain all the information that was requested on the survey. With these charts we will then be able to accurately determine the generalities of sleeping differences between 1st year Architect major and Western major students.
*********************************************************************
Stress and Sleep Survey
first year Architecture and Western Majors

Check the box that best describes you.

Major: Architecture Interior Design Western

Sex: Male Female

High School GPA:
4.0 or higher 3.5-3.99 3.0-3.49 2.5-2.99 2.49 and lower

Your study habits:
I rarely spend more than an hour on homework
I regularly spend at least two hours a night studying
Some nights I do very little, others I spend four or more hours
Besides two hours daily, once a week I spend more than four hours

Does your homework cause you stress?
Not at all Sometimes Definitely

Your eating habits:
I eat three well-balanced meals a day
I eat at least one well-balanced meal a day
I rarely eat healthy

Activities (check all that apply):
Varsity or intramural sports
Band
Community Service
Fraternity/Sorority
Church activities
Student leadership
Work
Other___________________________________________

Do your activities cause you stress?
Not at all Sometimes Definitely

Do you consider yourself:
Very stressed Somewhat stressed Not at all stressed
Sleep Patterns

At college, how much sleep do you get most nights?
8 or more hours 6-7 hours 4-5 hours less than 4 hours

Which night do you sleep best on?
A weekday Friday Saturday Sunday

What time of day do you sleep?
From 12am or earlier until early morning
From 1am or later until late morning
Late night, naps
Early night, naps
Only naps during the day

Who stays up longer?
You Your roommate

If you stay up later, what is your roommateís major?
Architecture Western

How do you feel when you wake up?
Rejuvenated Somewhat refreshed Still tired
Worse than before sleep

How long does it take you to fall asleep?
Less than 10 min. Around 20 min. Up to an hour
More than an hour

How many times do you wake up at night?
Never Once or Twice More than a few

How long does it take to fall back to sleep once you wake up?
Less than 10 min. Around 20 min. Up to an hour
More than an hour

Do you think stress affects your sleep?
Not at all Sometimes Definitely
**********************************************************************
Numbers in each column represent the number of students who took the survey that
answered in that way.

Data Table 1 (Architecture Students)
Question none some a lot
Homework affects stress
Activities affect stress
personal stress level
stress affects sleep

Data Table 2 (Western Students)
homework affects stress
activities affect stress personal stress level
stress affects sleep

Data Table 3 (Sleep Quality: Arch.)
question very good good fair poor
amount of sleep
sleeps affect
time to fall asleep
time to fall asleep again

Data Table 4 (Sleep Quality: WCP)
amount of sleep
sleeps affect
time to fall asleep
time to fall asleep again

Comparisons made with data collected (in number of students)
Data Table 1
western architecture
stress does not affect
stress affects a lot
sleep quality is very good
sleep quality is poor
*********************************************************************
Results:
This section, will be later filled with more concrete results from our surveys. For
now we can predict the outcome of our survey. From the questions we ask we will prove
that Architecture students get less sleep than Western majors and in turn are more stressed
out.
By surveying the amount of naps students take, we should find that Western
students have some extra time to take a nap. In a study devised to mointor the effects of a
nap during the afternoon, it was proved that ìa 20 minute nap at noon had partial positive
effects on the maintenance of the daytime arousal level.î A twenty minute nap is just the
perfect amount of time to rejuvinate oneís body and regain energy for the last part of their
day.
We also found a smiliar study to our own that found stress relating to loss of sleep.
ìPoor sleep quality, as measured by the PSQI, was significantly correlated with increased
physical health complaintsand with increased feelings of tension, depression, anger,
fatigue, and confusion.î This study proved that lack of sleep elevated tension levels. We
hope to be this successful in our study of the Western Campus.
Our research conclusions cannot be concrete to this date. When we do accomplish
this, our results will be more in depth to portray our experiment.

Works Cited:
Hayashi, Mitsuo, et al. ìThe Effects of a 20 Minute Nap at Noon on Sleepiness,Performance, and EEG Quality.î Journal of Psychophysiology 32.2 (1999):173-180.
Pilcher, June A., et al. ìSleep Quality Versus SleepQuantity: Relationships Between Sleep and Measurements of Health, Well-Being, and Sleepiness in College Students.î Journal of Psychosomatic Research 42.6(1997):583-596.

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Here is a list of responses that have been posted to this Study...

• What are the results? (7/26/02) [ Contributor: english architect-Section: myers ]
• (5/12/02) [ Contributor: -Section: ]
• Use Caution (10/18/99) [ Contributor: Kristy Antos-Section: Myers ]
• Good Idea (10/14/99) [ Contributor: Emily Janssens and Katie Leith-Section: Myers ]

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