THE PREVALENCE OF SLEEPING HABITS AND SLEEP DEPRIVATION AMONG THE 3RD YEAR BIOLOGY

STUDENTS OF CEBU DOCTORS UNIVERSITY: PROPOSED AWARENESS

Cebu Doctors University

Mandaue City, Cebu

Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for English 14: Introduction to Research

By:

Anora, Regina Ann R.

Arranguez, Kaye D.

Ayco, Jonathan C.

Gullas, John Tristan R.

Young, Francis Edward

Rationale

Students these days are at the edge of getting the sufficient amount of sleep. College students, most

especially, get the most deprived among others. Their sleeping hygiene behaviors are getting worst as

they further take major subjects in the curriculum. Sleep is naturally recurring state of mind and body

characterize by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, inhibition of nearly all

voluntary muscles, and reduced interactions with surroundings. During sleep, most of the bodys system

is in an anabolic state, in which healthy for the body to part-take. Benefiting at least 7 to 8 hours of

sleep each night is important for a student to take; it is the adequate amount of time needed to

effectively function as a whole. Disrupting sleep cycle would cause body responds a decrease of its

ability to concentrate and to complete complex tasks.

Being sleep deprived could cause an alternate body cycle leading to an un-patterned productivity, due

to its insufficient amount of sleep. Thus, students being sleep deprived likewise changes its sleeping

habits. The un-patterned sleep cycle and routine shifts its course positively unhealthy. A lifestyle of a

college student affects and defines the wholesome of its good performance. For as defined by

Psychiatrist, sleep habits is the cornerstone of a healthy sleeping cycle. Hence, this gives of that one

must correlate its health to the sleep habits they have to their sleep deprive lifestyle.

This research paper investigates the possible causes of sleep deprivation to Cebu Doctors University

Third Year Biology Students and its effect to sleep habits.

Theory

The research paper done by Jane Kate Otenyo from the University of Arizona entitled Sleeping Habits

and Sleep Deprivation among College Students claims that college students have one of the worst

sleeping habits. Humans are required to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep but due to the life of a college

student, these students lose sleep and because of this, they disrupt their sleep cycles, lose their ability

to concentrate and lose the ability to complete school tasks.

The 3 goals of Otenyos study was to explore sleeping habits of college students and the factors that

contribute to sleep deprivation, to determine the effects on health via sleep deprivation and its

consequence on the academic performance of students and to examine effective sleep deprivation

prevention methods used for college students.

The studys aim was to allow its readers to know more about sleeping habits and sleep deprivation for

students who are in college. The survey includes information that will be collected which will include the

participants age, class standing, hours of sleep per night, weekend hours of sleep, sleep habits, and

stress level.

Otenyo finally concluded after the data from the surveys were collected, that the college students who

averaged an age of 20 years old out of 65 female and male students stated on the survey that they are

getting poor sleep, meaning less sleeping hours than 7-8 hours of sleep and that they are aware of the

bad effects on sleep loss towards their health and academic performance.

It is because of studying all night that students tend to sleep less than the required hours of sleep.

Students who use gadgets such as cellphones, smart phones, tablets and laptops are most likely to get

lesser sleep; students must limit their use of these gadgets and drink lesser caffeine and/or alcohol.

College students, as stated by Otenyo, tend to sleep well, during weekends and be deprived of sleep

during weekdays, just like us students in CDU.

And factors such as those students who are working part time, also become deprived of sleep. Students

must learn how to manage their time properly, Time Management.

Although there was an odd amount of students who answered the surveys, 65 to be exact, this resulted

to a skewed demographic data comparison which meant that one cannot accurately cross-examine

demographic data of students to other factors affecting sleep loss. Essentially, not enough people took

the survey to make informed judgments on certain data categories. The survey also had many missing

questions which were relevant to the research objectives.

Otenyo recommends to her readers that future researchers should ask participants to perform a

Cognitive task and compare their results to their average sleep hours per night. Otenyo also states that

future researchers should ask students about their areas of study and compare it to the average hours

of sleep they get per night. Lastly, Otenyo states that future researchers should consider using a paper

formatted survey because students can ask questions for clarification if survey facilitators are present

during the paper format survey distribution.

Review of Related Literature

Lack of Sleep: The 10 Most Profound Psychological Effects

The article tells us that lack of sleep is bad for you, a man named Randy Gardner deprived himself

to sleep for 11 days and suffered from many psychological problems. Short term memory was shot,

without short-term memory it becomes difficult to hold a few digits of a telephone number in the mind.

Long-term memory is also shot, While sleeping, the brain makes sense of the things that have happened.

We strengthen our learning while we sleep and without sleep, it becomes difficult to remember long-term

memories and becomes harder to learn new skills. Another one is that he wasn't able to distinguish faces

or voices of people, so his attention was shot and he wasn't able to pay attention to his senses anymore.

After 36 hours without sleep, your ability to plan and coordinate your actions starts to go wrong. The good

news is that by simply sleeping, these deficits can be cured. After staying awake for 11 days, Randy

Gardner reportedly slept for over 14 hours the first night, then 10 hours the next night, thereafter he was

fully recovered.

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Memory, Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

Matthew Schumacher and Desmond Sipes (2015) conducted a study about the negative

implications sleep deprivation had on particular cognitive functions. The purpose was to gain new

information, which would better inform college students of the importance of routinely obtaining the

recommended 7-8 hours of sleep. The study states that college students who obtain between seven to

eight hours of sleep each night will achieve higher scores on the tests administered than those who receive

six or less, or nine or more hours of sleep per night.

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Individual Productivity Sephra L. Snyder

According to Sephra L. Sender (2003), Being sleepy on the job can have a vital impact on how well

workers can do their job. The study examines the effects of partial sleep deprivation on productivity. The

purpose of this study is to determine what effects, if any, mild sleep deprivation has on productivity, which

in turn affects the workplace. The researcher is specifically interested in the number of nocturnal

awakenings and self-perception of mood in the morning and its correlation to productivity levels. For the

procedure, Participants were asked to keep a sleep journal recording behaviors that could possibly affect

sleep, such as, when they wake up, go to sleep, how many times during the night they woke up, how they

felt when they woke and the number of hours slept during the night.

http://www.academia.edu/7729576/Chapter_3_RESEARCH_AND_METHODOLOGY

Example: Example:
Reference List Citation In-Text Citation

Kelley, P. C., & Chang, P. L. (2007). (Kelley & Chang, 2007)

J.J Pilcher & Huffcutt P.325

Supporting Studies

The results of June Pilcher and Allen Huffcutts study (w) leads us to two major conclusions.

First, sleep deprivation has a consequential effect on motor and mood and cognitive performance in

humans. Second, limited sleep deprivation has a greater negative effect on mood and cognitive

performance than either short-term or long-term sleep deprivation.

According to the study, Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and

motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication ( A M Williamsona and

Anne-Marie Feyerb ), The fatigue of sleep deprivation is a crucial factor expected to compromise

performance of accuracy and speed of the kind needed for safety on the road and in other industrial

settings.

According to the study of Durmer and Dinges (Neurocognitive Consequences of Sleep

Deprivation), Whether sleep deprivation from disorder or lifestyle, acute or chronic, it poses significant

cognitive risks in the performance of ordinary tasks such as driving and performing a machinery.
Succeeding wakefulness in excess of 16 hours, results to loss in attention and executive function tasks

are demonstrable through well-validated protocols.