An investigation of the relationship between sleep and college achievement

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at a small university to investigate the effects of sleep patterns on academic achievement of undergraduate students. Undergraduate students were given a self-reporting questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to help track their sleep habits during the academic semester. The sleep habits that were tracked include subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, sleep medication, and daytime dysfunction. The participants were asked to return the self-reporting instruments, which were used to determine their eligibility for a second round of self-reporting. The students were asked to submit a second self-reporting questionnaire designed to target if their sleep patterns had played a role in their midterm grade point average. Participants were asked to turn in a copy of their spring 2016 midterm academic information. The sleep patterns and academic achievement of each participant were used for analysis. In conclusion, there was a slight decrease in grade point average for students who were reported to have a worse sleep quality according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. [from abstract]