Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Students'

Performance in Class
12ABM-5
Researchers:
Angel Feliz Figueroa
Mijie Lou Baluyot
Carleen Joi Macapagal
Ivy Corine Alambra
Marinela Macapagal
 Chapter I
The Problem
Sleep is an important biological necessity that all people need
to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It helps people work at an optimum
level and is critical for brain functioning, helping with all the cognitive
functions such as memory, learning, decision making, and critical
thinking. This makes sleep extremely important for academic
performance (Gilbert & Weaver, 2010). Sleep deprivation increases the
likelihood teens will suffer myriad negative consequences, including
inability to concentrate, poor grades, and depression. Sleep
deprivation has an impact negatively on a wide range of cognitive,
behavioral, physiological, and emotional measures. For example, mood
changes including irritability, fatigue, and disorientation to short-term
memory alterations due to decreased attention, and decreased
motivation. Systematic studies of total sleep deprivation have revealed
some temporary cognitive deficits but no permanent effects.
 The reasons for students sleep deprivation are
many, including wide range of social, cultural,
environmental, and biological factors (e.g., personal
interest and problems; involvement with
extracurricular activities; academic demands; and
living conditions that interfere with sleep).
Academics are common motivator for students
sleep loss. Students who are sleep deprived because
of academic often stay up late at night and wake up
early especially during exams. A recent study
conducted with the students proves that low amount
of sleep correlates with negative academic
performance (Curcio, Ferrara, & De Gennalo, 2006).
Research Question
The study aims to determine the effects of sleep
deprivation on students’ performance in class. More
specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:
1. What are the effects of hours of sleep in
performance of the students in class?
2. Is there a significant difference in the exam and
recitation of students with
a. less hours of sleep; and
b. appropriate hours of sleep?
3. Is there a significance difference between less and
appropriate hours of sleep on students’ performance?
Research Hypothesis

In relation to the foregoing problems the study

will test the following hypothesis in its null form at
the 0.5 level of significance:
1. There is significant difference in the exam and
recitation of students with
a. less hours of sleep; and
b. appropriate hours of sleep?
2. There is a significance difference between less and
appropriate hours of sleep on students’
performance?
Scope and Delimitation

The study was focused on the effects of sleep

deprivation on students’ performance in class. The subject
of this study were two entire classes of morning and
afternoon schedule of Senior High School students in
Phinma Araullo University-Main Campus during the first
semester of the academic year 2017-2018 since they are
qualified to be the respondents in our study. The topics
covered were the effects of hours of sleep on the
performance of the students in the exam and recitation.
The schedule of the students (one class in morning
schedule and one class in afternoon schedule) were also
interchanged to reduce or eliminate bias on student
preference in schedule.
Rationale of the Study
The result of this study will benefited the following:
Students
The result of this study will help the students to prevent sleep deprivation
and to know that it can affect their health as well as their academic
performance.
Parents
This study is beneficial to the parents because it will help them to give
advice to their children to avoid sleep deprivation.
Researcher
This study will help the researcher to gain more knowledge about how sleep
deprivation can affect to our body and have an idea that sleep deprivation has
a huge impact physically and mentally to the body who sleep less.
Future Researcher
Future researcher can use this study as a basis or as their reference and
guide to their study to conduct more study about sleep deprivation.
Definition of Terms
For clarify of the study, the following terms used are hereby
operationally defined.
Absently minded- having or showing a habitually forgetful or inattentive
disposition. Academic Performance- is the extent to which a student, teacher
or institution has achieved their short or long-term educational goals.
Cognitive deficit- is an inclusive term used to describe impairment in an
individual’s mental processes that lead to the acquisition of information and
knowledge, and drive how an individual understand and acts in the world.
Cognitive functions- can be defined as cerebral activities that lead to
knowledge, including all means and mechanism of acquiring information.
Concentrate- to think about something: to give your attention to the thing you
are doing, reading.
Critical thinking- the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to
form a judgment.
Fatigue- is a subjective feeling of tiredness which is distinct from
weakness, and has a gradual onset.
National Sleep Foundation- is a U.S. nonprofit organization that promotes
public understanding of sleep and sleep disorders.
Physiological- relating to the branch of biology that deals with the normal
functions of living organisms and their parts.
Sleep Deprivation- is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be
either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue,
daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely
affects the brain and cognitive function.
Chapter II
Review of Related Literature and Studies

Local Studies

Many studies in the past have shown that sleep deprivation

does correlate with poor academic performance because of lower
abilities in cognition as a result of poor sleep quality.
Local Studies
One major phenomenon that has been gradually eroding the
health of the Philippines is lack of sleep. From the effects of
unbearable traffic to the explosion of the business process outsourcing
industry to the geometric rise of Internet usage nationwide, millions of
Filipinos are choosing to sleep less and less, with dangerous effects.
We seem to think that staying awake to finish work is the lesser evil. It
isn’t. It is a danger we have to address, and soon.
 What does sleep really do for us? Aside from allowing
the body to rest, sufficient, quality sleep allows our minds to
refresh, and facilitates the transfer of short-term to long-term
memory. Proper sleep has been proven to help students
perform better in school the following day, particularly in
complicated tasks like mathematics. Decision-making and
emotional stability are also affected by the right amount of
good sleep.
Studies have shown that, in the last few decades,
children (and therefore, adults) have been sleeping less and
less. Adults whose parents enforced strict bedtime rules have
been found to function more efficiently at work and sleep
more than hour more than those who grew up with no rules
on when to sleep. Other research showed that if you deprive
a healthy adult of sleep for six straight days, his body
chemistry will resemble that of someone literally twice his
age, and it will take him a full week to get his metabolism back
to normal.
Foreign Studies
In the study of Gilbert and Waver (2010), sleep is a vital
necessity for people to live a healthy lifestyle in which they can
function well and think properly. It helps with memory consolidation,
learning decision making, and critical thinking
The quality of sleep that one receives defends on two factors,
basal sleep and sleep debt. Basal sleep is the amount of sleep a body
needs on a regular basis for optimum sleep. Sleep debt is the
accumulated sleep that is lost to poor sleep behaviors, illness,
environmental factors, or other causes (National Sleep Foundation,
2014)
The sleep deprivation greatly affects a students’ ability to
perform well in their class (Kelly, 2001).
In the study of Gilbert and Weaver (2010), the result of poor
sleep quality and sleep deprivation in academic performance is
especially evident among college students. Since college students have
such busy work, school, and social schedules to keep up with their
sleep cycles become negatively affected by it. They tend to have
irregular sleep cycles depending on the day of the week and report
dissatisfaction with sleep as a result of poor sleep quality.
 In the study of Medeinos and his colleagues shows that the
correlation between academic performance and sleep deprivation, the
students tend to have prolonged sleep during the weekend because of
their sleep loss during weekdays because of school.
Snyder (2003) in a study titled The Effects of Sleep Deprivation
on Individual Productivity posits that regardless if an individual is
single, living with someone, married, separated, widowed, or divorced
does not profoundly affect productivity levels. Those participants
currently attending college were found to have a substantially higher
productivity level. This could be due, in part, to the idea that college
students have greater number if immediate deadlines. In other words,
besides the task of work and home life, college students have strict
syllabi to follow with impending deadlines. They may organize their
time to better to complete the tasks on time, which would account for
the considerably higher productivity level. The study concluded that
the person must be deprives of total sleep to experiences negative
mood, sleepiness, fatigue, and a decline in alertness and performance.
The ability to acquire a few hours of sleep showed no decline in
alertness or performance.
Research Paradigm

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

Appropriate hours of sleep

Students’ Performance
Less hours of sleep

Figure 1. The Research Paradigm Showing the Relationship of the Variables

in the Study
The research paradigm of the study shows the relationship of the
variables involve. The independent variables are the hours of sleep, the
less hours of sleep and appropriate hours of sleep. The dependent
variable is the students’ performance in class. It is conceptualized that the
sleep deprivation has a negative effect on the Students’ in terms of
studying.
Chapter III
 Methodology

This chapter contains the research design, data

collection methods, instruments that is used, the
procedure of data gathering and the statistical
treatment that was used for the data analysis and
interpretation.
 Research Design

The type of research that the researchers used

is quantitative and descriptive method. The
researchers used this design to get the percentage of
the effects of sleep deprivation on students'
performance and to determine how many students
are suffering from sleep loss. The researchers also
used this design to determine if the sleep deprivation
has a negative impact in the students’ performance.
 Instrument

`For the purpose of this research, the

researchers used questionnaire in gathering
information. The researchers designed this using
close-ended question to limit the answer of the
participants. It consists of ten questions that based
on the problem that the researchers aim to answer. It
is based on some of the previous study that the
researchers used as a guide in this study.
 Data Collection Method

The researchers used a questionnaire that

based in the internet. The researchers choose 20
students from morning shift and 20 students from
afternoon shift using purposive random sampling.
The participants are Senior High School students
from PHINMA Araullo University – Main Campus.
After the respondents answer the questionnaire the
researcher tally all the results and used the statistical
analysis to get the specific percentage to formulate a
valid and relevant result for the research.
Statistical Analysis
Chapter IV
Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation
of Data

The purpose of this is to know the

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Students
Performance in Class through surveying.
AM SHIFT

Chart Title

0.1

0.9

Yes No

The graph above shows that 90% of the participants feel that they sleep
deprived as a Senior High and 10% is not.
 Chart Title

0.1

0.9

Yes No

The graph shows that 90% of the respondents find it harder to stay awaked or
focused during class hours in the day that they did not get sufficient sleep the
night before and the other 10% of the respondents did not find it harder.
 Chart Title

0.1

0.9

Yes No

The graph shows that 90% of the participants feel that they have less energy
or motivation throughout the day when they don’t have enough sleep and
the 10% is not.
 Chart Title
0.05

0.15

0.35

0.45

Very often Often Some what often Not often

When asked, “How often would you say stress interferes with your ability to
fall asleep/sleep through the night?” almost half of the participants which is
the 45% answered often, 35% answered somewhat often, 15% of the
participants answered very often and 5% answered not often.
 Chart Title

0.25
0.4

0.3

0.05

Not tired at night, Im a night owl Up late studying-doing homework

Out with friends-socializing Lack of management skills

When then asked what factors diminish the quality or quantity of their sleep.
This graph show that 40% of the participants answered that the factors that
diminish their quantity of their sleep it is because they are lack of
management skills and 30% answered it is because they are doing their
homework and 25% of them answered that it is because they are not tired at
night and the 5% answered it is because they are socializing with their
friends.
 Chart Title

0.2

0.8

Yes No

The graph shows that 80% of the participants feel that their academic
performance is hindered due to insufficient sleep and 20% of them answered
not.
 Chart Title

0.3

0.4

0.3

0 to 10 10 to 15 15 plus

This graph shows that 40% of the participants answered that 0-10 hours they study
per week, 30% answered 10-15 hours and 30% of them answered 15 and above.
 Chart Title

0.5 0.5

Yes No

This graph shows that in the total of a 100% of participants, half of them
answered yes and the other half answered no.
 Chart Title

0.45

0.55

Yes No

This graph shows that most of the respondents which is the 55% answered that
they suffer from a sleep disorder like insomnia, sleep apnea, etc. and 45% of
them answered that they don’t suffer from a sleep disorder.
 Chart Title

0.1 0.1

0.8

Doing homework Surfing to the internet Can't fall asleep

This graph shows that almost the 100% of the participant which is the 80%
answered that the factors why they don’t sleep early at night is because
they browsing/surfing to the internet and 10% of them answered they do
their homework at night and 10% answered they can’t fall asleep.
PM SHIFT

Chart Title

0.35

0.65

Yes No

The graph above shows that 65% of the participants feel that they sleep
deprived as a Senior High and 35% is not.
 Chart Title

0.15

0.85

Yes No

The graph shows that 85% of the respondents find it harder to stay awaked
or focused during class hours in the day that they did not get sufficient
sleep the night before and the other 15% of the respondents did not find it
harder.
 Chart Title

0.15

0.85

Yes No

The graph shows that 85% of the participants feel that they have less
energy or motivation throughout the day when they don’t have enough
sleep and the 15% is not.
 Chart Title

0.1

0.25

0.25

0.4

Very Often Often Somewhat often Not often

When asked, “How often would you say stress interferes with your ability to fall
asleep/sleep through the night?” almost half of the participants which is the 25%
answered often, 40% answered somewhat often, 10% of the participants answered
very often and 25% answered not often.
 Chart Title

0.15
0.3
0.05

0.5

Not tired at night, "Im a night owl" Up late studying/doing homework

Out with friends/socializing Lack of time management skills

When then asked what factors diminish the quality or quantity of their
sleep. This graph show that 15% of the participants answered that the
factors that diminish their quantity of their sleep it is because they are
lack of management skills and 50% answered it is because they are
doing their homework and 30% of them answered that it is because
they are not tired at night and the 5% answered it is because they are
socializing with their friends.
 Chart Title

0.2

0.8

Yes No

The graph shows that 80% of the participants feel that their academic
performance is hindered due to insufficient sleep and 20% of them
answered not.
 Chart Title

0.25

0.6 0.15

0 to 10 10 to 15 15 plus

This graph shows that 25% of the participants answered that 0-10 hours
they study per week, 15% answered 10-15 hours and 60% of them
answered 15 and above.
 Chart Title

0.2

0.8

Yes No

This graph shows that in the total of a 100% of participants, almost all the
participants which is 80% answered yes and 20% of them answered no.
 Chart Title

0.4

0.6

Yes No

This graph shows that most of the respondents which is the 60% answered
that they suffer from a sleep disorder like insomnia, sleep apnea, etc. and
40% of them answered that they don’t suffer from a sleep disorder.
 Chart Title

0.1
0.15

0.75

Doing homework Surfing to the internet Can't fall asleep

This graph shows that almost the 100% of the participant which is the
75% answered that the factors why they don’t sleep early at night is
because they browsing/surfing to the internet and 10% of them
answered they do their homework at night and 15% answered they can’t
fall asleep.
Chapter V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
 Summary
Proving if Sleep Deprivation can really affect the
students’ performance in class. Adequate Sleep is a biological
necessity, not a luxury for the normal functioning of human.
Good mental and physical health depends on maintenance of
adequate sleep.
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that
contribute to the students sleep deprivation and to know the
effects of sleep loss to students’ performance in class with
different schedule.
The researchers used quantitative and descriptive
method to describe the effects of sleep deprivation on students’
performance. The main instrument that we used is
questionnaire designed as close-ended question. The
researchers choose 40 students from morning and afternoon
shift.
 The results of this study show that the students are
experiencing sleep deprivation. Most of the students find it harder
to stay awake/focused during their class. The students feel that
they have less energy and motivation when they sleep deprived.
Almost half of our participants said that the stress interferes with
their ability to fall asleep. Main factors that diminish to the quality
or quantity of the students’ sleep are late studying at night and lack
of time management skills. According to our survey, it is prove that
the academic performance of the students are hindered due to
sleep loss. The students only spend 10-15 hours to study. Some
students are experiencing sleep disorder that affect to their ability
to fall asleep. Main factors that the students sleep deprived is
surfing/browsing to the internet.
Conclusion
We conclude that most of the students are experiencing sleep
deprivation as a Senior High though they are aware of the damaging
effects of sleep deprivation on their academic performance. Students
tend to have less energy and motivation throughout the day when they
have less sleep than needed the night before. Stress also interferes
with their ability to fall asleep through the night. Most factors that
diminish the quality or quantity of the student to fall asleep late at
night are lack of time management and late up studying or doing
homework. Students spend only 0 to 10 hours of working studying per
week. The school workload also has an impact to few students whose
suffering from less sleep. Sleep disorder (insomnia, sleep apnea, etc) is
also a factor that affects the students to sleep deprived. Students don’t
sleep early at night because they are surfing/browsing the internet.
Recommendation
There are few limitations that prevented this research from having optimal
results. Future studies should try to understand the physical effects such as cognitive
ability in more detail than displayed in this study. Future researchers should ask
participants to perform a cognitive task and compare their results to their average sleep
of hours per night. This paper talked about looking at students’ majors to determine if
there is a correlation between certain major and sleep deprivation. Future researchers
should ask students about their areas of study and compare it to the average hours of
sleep they get per night. Another suggestion for future researcher is to conduct the
surveys in various formats. Both online and paper methods were successful. However,
future researcher 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. Online survey distribution removes the possibility of the 1:1
interaction that is more possible with distributing the paper format. This may result in
more accurate data response. Future researcher should conduct this study in various
groups outside of classes and social media, survey facilitators should look towards
approaching randomized groups on campus. And lastly, future researchers should look
to distribute this survey to multiple schools, this way more people can theoretically take
it and more variance in data would enhance the data quality.