MW2

 

 

 

College Students’ Sleep Schedules

Lindsey Doty

University of Iowa

 

College Students’ Sleeping Schedule

Abstract

            When high schoolers come to college, there is a huge transition in their life with many upcoming experiences and changes that are going to happen. With a larger work load than ever, many college students spend a majority of their working on their homework, writing papers, and studying for their classes. This experiment examines 100 college students, male and female, to see whether there is a correlation with the heavy workload and the outcomes of their grades with their sleep schedules. Each participant took an online survey that consisted of seven questions relating to their dedication to homework and average sleep schedule. The results showed that since coming to college, many students are spending a lot more time on their studies and a lot less time sleep than what they are used to. Although some participants haven’t changed their sleeping schedule that much since coming to college, the majority have and gave their input into whether they consider their grades successful or not. Since there has been a lot of research as to why people need to get enough sleep in their night to be healthy, I thought this topic was relevant to the changes many freshmen are going through. From this experiment, it can indicate that many people do not get the recommended amount of sleep durations and are somewhat satisfied with the grades they are receiving.

Introduction

            When most students come to college, it is a huge transformation in their life with many new experiences and challenges they will soon overcome. There are so many changes going on at once, it seems to be so much to take in.  One of biggest changes students will have is a large responsibility of time-management. College has much more dedication to school work rather than high school, which can create a lot of stress and lack of sleep in many students. Since there is a large abundance of homework and studying, it is likely that many students are decreasing their amount of sleep they receive each night. This lack of sleep can cause a large impact in the outcomes of their grades, health, and other aspects in a negative way. There may be different ways that students cope with their amounts of homework and studying, but it may take time for the students to get in a healthy routine.

            According to researches that have already been done, the amount of sleep every person needs can depend upon their age. In younger adults, age 18-25, it is recommended that they receive 7-9 hours of sleep every night (Sifferlin). By getting an adequate amount of sleep each night, it can make for a healthier lifestyle and better well-being. An interesting fact by James R. Oelschlager is that college students today sleep and average of two hours less of sleep than students’ in the 1980’s (1). There is not clear explanation as to why that is, but does it affect students in more than just one way? By creating a healthier lifestyle, it can cause one to become focused on their schoolwork, and not tired all the time because of the overabundance. But sometimes that can be hard, as college puts a large workload on students.

            So, I wanted to receive more knowledge as to whether or not students’ sleep schedules correlate with their grades in a positive or negative way. Not only can not getting enough sleep each night create health problem, but it could also cause a decrease in your achievements in school. This question may be commonly known, but it may be hard to interpret depending on different variables, such as majors, year in school, and dedication. To learn what other college students think about this concern, I created a survey to reach out to 100 males and females and wanted to analyze if there is a correlation between the two aspects. By reaching out to all different types of college students, it allowed me to gain knowledge and interpret the data of different reasoning’s behind the correlation of amount of sleep and grades.

Methods

Participants: 100 students, both male and female, participated in this survey. All of the participants are currently enrolled in different colleges.

Data Sources: A survey was created using surveymonkey.com that included 7 questions pertaining to sleep and grades.

Procedure: The link for the survey was posted on the blog for students in the class, sent as a text to friends, as well as a link on Facebook. Every person could only complete the survey once.

Data Analysis: The researcher analyzed the responses, and made charts and graphs pertaining to the information that was concluded from the questions’ responses. The charts and graphs will help present the information.

Results:

Figure one indicates the amount of sleep, on average, that 100 college students get each night. 39% of college participants in my survey get an average of 6-7 hours of sleep each night. It is also shown in the graph that 26% of participants also receive either receive 5-6 or 6-7 hours of sleep, and the remainder either receive less than 5 or more than 8. As said before, the recommended amount of sleep that young adults should receive is 7-9 hours of sleep. So, a majority of the participants receive the bare minimum of what is recommended each night to fulfill a healthy lifestyle. It also shows that the average amount is 6-7 hours, and then it is equally split with the rest as less than 6 hours and more than 7 hours.

Figure 1:

Percentage

Figure 2:

In figure two, the graph is showing the GPA increments on the y-axis and the percentage of participants that receive that certain GPA range. Figure two indicates the cumulative GPA of the total participants in the survey. According to the chart, the GPA ranges from 3.5-3.75 and 3.75-4.0 both consume 20.41% of the participants. When asked what grades they think are satisfactory, the majority responded with A’s and a few B’s. This is very correspondent with the GPA’s they have. When looking at figure two, you can conclude that 22.51% of the participants are receiving a GPA below 3.0. 3.0 is a passing GPA, but when looking at the hours of sleep the average person gets, it correlates as to why almost a quarter of the participants are receiving lower GPA’s than other respondents. When looking at the personal responses from the 24.49% of those who have a 3.75-4.0 and above GPA, it is shown that they get, on average, seven or more hours of sleep each night.

5%                         10%       15%                      20%                      25%

Discussion

            When coming to college, many students have many new transitions going on in their life including a new home, new friends, and a new school. Since college puts a large workload on students, many students have to maintain their time-management really well. Since it is such a large dedication, stress levels may go up, causing less sleep from the excessive amounts of homework and studying. There was a survey that was created, in which I had 100 college students, male and female, respond to the seven questions. They pertained to the amount of sleep they receive and if they believe their grades are satisfactory. Through the data I received, many respondents responded to the open-ended question similarly to: “I sleep a lot less in college than I did in high school.” 78% of the participants said their sleep schedules have changed since coming to college. According the figure one and figure two, it indicates that many students do not get the recommended amount of sleep they should get each night, which is 7-9 hours for young adults. 39% of students only get 6-7 hours and then other 61% are split equally as receiving more or less than that amount. In figure 2, 44.9% of respondents have a GPA higher than 3.5. While that is a very good GPA to have, that also means that 55.1% of respondents have less than a 3.5 GPA. When looking at individual responses, it is shown that those who receive less than seven hours of sleep have lower GPA’s than those who get more sleep each night. According to the data presented and the data given, it is shown that those who get the recommended amount of sleep each night, end up having a higher GPA than others.

References

Oelshchlager, J. (2015). Sleep and college life. Florida Institute of Technology.

Sifferlin, A. (2015, February 2). Here’s how much experts think you should sleep every night. Time: Health.

Appendix

1.      Where do you typically sleep at night? (In a residence hall with a roommate, in a residence hall without a roommate, in an apartment, at home with your family, in a sorority/fraternity house, other)

2.      What is the average amount of sleep (in hours) that you get each night? (Less than 5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-8, More than 8)

3.      What is your GPA? (2.0-2.5, 2.5-2.75, 2.75-3.0, 3.0-3.25, 3.25-3.5, 3.5-3.75, 3.75-4.0, 4.0 and above)

4.      On a typical day, how much time (on average in hours) do you spend doing homework? (0-.5, .5-1, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, More than 6)

5.      Are you satisfied with the grades you are receiving in college? (Yes, no, somewhat)

6.      What do you consider as a successful grade? (A, B, C, D, Failing)

7.      Since coming to college, has your sleeping schedule changed? Explain. (Open ended)