Impacts Of Sleep Hours On Students

 

Junaid Ali

MS Supply Chain Management (Bahria University Islamabad)

Bsc (Hons) Agricultural Economics (Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agricultural University Rawalpindi)

Junaidali7007@gmail.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/junaid-ali-5bb4a7161/

 

 

Impact of Sleep Hours on Student’s Achievement

Sleep is an inseparable part of human health and life, which is crucial in learning, practice, as well as physical and mental health. It affects the capacity of individual learning, academic performance, and neural-behavioral functions. This study aimed to determine the relationship between sleep quality and students’ academic achievement among students at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agricultural University Rawalpindi (PMAS_AAUR). 

Introduction

      Sleep is an inseparable part of human health and life, and is pivotal to learning and practice as well as physical and mental health.

1. Studies have suggested that insufficient sleep, increased frequency of short-term sleep, and going to sleep late and getting up early affect the learning capacity, academic performance, and neurobehavioral functions.
2. Some studies have emphasized the relationship between delayed starting time of classes and academic success.
3.  Reduced overnight sleep or altered sleep patterns has been associated with severe drowsiness and failure in academic success.
4. The chance of academic failure was as long as one or more than 1 year in students with inadequate sleep compared to those with proper sleep.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of sleep hours on the academic performance of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agricultural University Rawalpindi (PMAS_AAUR) students. This study was aimed at obtaining a deeper awareness of university students’ direct experiences in their natural setting. In this Research, it has found that irregular sleeping patterns and lack of information on proper sleep practices contribute to sleep deprivation among students. It is reported that sleep deprivation is responsible for inappropriate temper, anxiety, daytime sleepiness, and academic deficits.

 

 

 

Research problem

The focus of this study was to assess the student's ability to perform academically in relation to his or her quality of sleep. Despite the fact that a vast amount of time in adolescence is spent learning and improving education, there is a large gap in research examining the relationship of sleep and academic functioning and performance. There is a lack of knowledge of very simple modifications in sleep hygiene to improve the quality of sleep of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agricultural University Rawalpindi (PMAS_AAUR) students, and subsequently, their overall academic performance.

Research objectives

·         The purpose of this study was to answer the following research question: Does duration of sleep affect PMAS_AAUR students' overall academic performance?

·         A questionnaire was developed to determine sleep habits, subjective perceptions of one's own sleep quality, and any factors that affect the management of sleep and academic performance of PMAS_AAUR students.

·         The hypothesis was that students who have a longer duration of sleep will have a better academic performance demonstrated by a higher grade point average (GPA). The researcher proposed to investigate the need for implementing a sleep education program component to improve the overall quality of sleep in PMAS_AAUR students.

Research questions

·         How does sleep affect academic performance of PMAS_AAUR students?

·         How does sleep affect job performance of undergraduate students?

·         Is the relationship between sleep and academic performance different for undergraduate students working in the hospitality industry compared to those working in other industries?

·         Is the relationship between sleep and academic performance different for PMAS_AAUR students working in the hospitality industry compared to those who are not working? 

 

Research Sub questions                                                                                            

·        How do PMAS_AAUR students define sleep deprivation and what factors do they think contribute to it?

·        How do PMAS_AAUR students maintain good academic standards while being sleep deprived?

·        What factors in the home environment may affect the sleep patterns of PMAS_AAUR students’ performance?

·        What have PMAS_AAUR students found useful for enhancing their sleep patterns?

Delimitation of the study

·         In this study, It focused on sleep deprivation among PMAS_AAUR students. Because of the nature of this study, only students from university were candidates for the study. Nevertheless, instructors, students, and individuals in the overall university community will benefit from the results of this study. The scope of this study was to allow participants to describe their lived experiences in their natural settings.

•      The study explained it naturally. Descriptive research affects what exists before events. This study is divided into educational institutions. Study material collected from all departments. The study was collected by questions using a research method to measure and describe the general characteristics of the features. The study was affected by the current situation or event.

Literature review

I used the interview questions developed for this study as the instrument to collect the data. It was recommended that the research questions be used as the basis for developing the interview questions. To encourage participants to discuss their experiences fully, I asked them open-ended questions.

·         Interviews were a suitable tool to gather data in this study because my aim was to allow the participants to describe their lived experiences as university students. Interviews provided me with the opportunity to discover an understanding of the lived experiences of the participants

·          The primary search terms that was used included sleep, deprivation, university, degree, students, recall, information, anxiety and fatigue, task switching, nightmares, personal failures, academic performance, in-person students, and stress.

Conceptual framework

·         I based the conceptual framework for this study on sleep effects on PMAS_AAUR student’s achievements. This model allows researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of sleep deprivation. The opponent processing model dictates that there are two basic procedures responsible for individuals functioning at their optimum ability: the sleep-wake homeostatic process and the circadian rhythm process.

·         The sleep-wake homeostatic process is what happens when individuals naturally feel the urge to sleep. The circadian rhythm is a self-sustaining 24-hour cycle. This ongoing 24-hour cycle is present in all aspects of human functioning, including the nervous system that supports an individual’s ability to maintain academic function.

 

Sample selection

It was an observational, cross-sectional study conducted with undergraduate students in PMAS_AAUR. Students of both genders, and all five years of education were included. With approximately 350 students in each batch, all 1750 Agriculture students were invited, out of which 980 students responded. There were 183 incomplete responses which were excluded. Remaining 797 responses were included in the study (response rate: 45.54%).

 

Unit of analysis

The results indicated that impaired sleep quality between the two groups was not statistically significant. Although the relationship between sleeping and academic success has been introduced in medical literature since a long time, there still no definitive answer in this case. In a meta-analysis study conducted to examine the impact of sleep quality, sleep duration, and sleepiness on adolescents’ academic performance, although all three variables were related to academic achievement (positive relationship between sleep quality and duration of sleep and negative association with sleepiness), this relationship was very trivial.

Instrument development/selection

It was designed the interview questions to specifically elicit information from the participants’ direct experience with the phenomenon. To accomplish this, the questions were open-ended to encourage the participants to choose which aspects of the experience were important and to explore the depth of the meaning of the experience. Prior to use, the interview protocol was reviewed by a panel of two experts from PMAS_AAUR University, one content and one methodology expert.

Data collection procedure

In the preliminary meeting with each prospective participant, I reviewed the consent form, underscoring that the interviews would be audio-taped to guarantee the reliability of data collection. After the interviews were completed, I listened to the tape recordings, compared the transcripts to the recordings, and compiled a summary of the interview, which was to the participants for member checking. The participants were made aware that they could ask any questions about the informed consent.

Data analysis techniques

The steps for the analysis process were as follows:

1.     Researcher’s epoché

2.     Listing and preliminary grouping

3.     Reduction and elimination

4.     Clustering and thematizing

5.     The final identification of the invariant constituents and themes by application

Conclusion

My biases subsequent to conducting this study include the following:

·         The majority of university students experience sleeps deprivation and they are unaware of it.

·         Sleep deprivation among university students is increasing and it seems likely that it is not a major concern in their lives while in University.