Related literature

This section provides a presentation of related studies and literature which are

significant in consideration. Their statements, findings and conlusions indicate

their influence and relevance to the present research.

Snyder (2003)1 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 a greater number of 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 better to complete

the tasks on time, which would account for the considerably higher productivity

level. The study concluded that the person must be deprived 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. The research entitled “A Study on the Relationship of

Sleep-Rest Pattern in the academic Performance of Dean’s Listers in San Beda

College of Nursing’’ and ‘’ The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Individual

Productivity’’ differs from each other when it comes to the local of the study. The
Thesis of Snyder focuses on a specific problem which is sleep deprivation while

the current thesis are discovering the relationship of having a good or bad sleep to

the academic performance of those who excel on their academic performance.

They are also similar in a way that they both uses same method of collecting data,

that uses survey questionnaire. Qualitative design of study is used in both thesis.

They also focus on the possible effects of Sleep in the daily activities of an

individual.

Gomes (2002) on a research concerning Sleep-wake patterns and academic

performance in university students provides that the most consistent findings

were that lower academic results were associated with less sleep duration with later

bedtimes / sleep onset and with later rise times / awakening times. Students with

delayed sleep-phase problems, which imply later sleep-wake schedules, obtained

lower mean grades than their colleagues. The lower academic grades were also

found to be associated to other sleep variables as irregular sleep-wake cycle, longer

sleep latency, falling asleep in school poor sleep quality and excessive daytime

sleepiness. He stated that sleep deprivation in medical students did not influence

short-term and long term retention of newly learned medical material. On the

interesting study by Pilcher and Walters (1997), sleep deprived students (1 night of

sleep-loss), comparing to a non-deprived control group (8 hrs sleep), performed

significantly worse in a cognitive task but, surprisingly, they rated their estimated

performance significantly higher than the non-deprived colleagues. Consistent

findings were the associations of poorer academic performance with later sleep-

wake schedules and/or with eveningness orientation. Why do students with later

sleep-wake patterns and/or preferences may obtain lower results? There are several

possibilities: 1 - They miss morning classes in order to obtain enough sleep. 2 -

They wake up early to attend morning classes and, in this case, they are still at

disadvantage: (a) they must attend classes and examinations on the morning, when

they are not yet at their best, i.e., time of the day incongruent with their individual

circadian rhythm characteristics, (b) they become sleep deprived (because probably

they went to bed late the previous night), and (c) sleep-wake schedules become

irregular, for example, because they wake up late on weekends. Whenever morning

schedules are imposed for instruction and examinations, it is reasonable to expect

that evening types and students with later sleep-wake patterns may have worse

academic performance. He strongly suggest that academic functioning of

university students is (at least in part) associated with sleep and wake patterns.

Based on the findings from the literature reviewed, we believe that the knowledge

about sleep-wake patterns and circadian rhythms may be important for a better

understanding of the academic failure/success at the university, and may be used to

improve intervention processes to achieve greater success at the university. For

example, information about adequate sleep-wake habits may help student to

achieve a more efficient learning, with less wastes of time, effort, energy and

motivation; assessment of circadian rhythm characteristics may be useful for

counselling students as how to cope best with instructional and examination

schedules, by taking account of each student individual characteristics.

Clay published that those who regularly went to bed early and got up early had

higher GPAs, while those who went to bed and woke up late had lower GPAs.

The finding that college students who are evening types have lower GPAs is a very

important finding, sure to make its way into undergraduate psychology texts in the

near future, along with the research showing that memory is improved by sleep

Further, these results the author suggested that it might be possible to improve

academic performance by using chronotherapy to help students entrain their

biological clock to become more morning types.

There are a few easy ways to ensure that you get enough sleep. Students

must establish and follow a routine at bedtime. They must create a setting that is

relaxing and comfortable at bedtime. They must get a full seven to eight hours of

sleep each night, and avoid caffeine and stimulants in the hours before bedtime.
Staying up to study or cram for an exam will destroy an established sleep routine,

and should be avoided. Computers, televisions, and screens of any type should be

kept out of the bedroom, as well as food – don’t go to bed hungry, but don’t eat

just before bed. Exercise up to six hours before going to sleep will also keep you

from a full night’s rest.

The similarity of this article to the study of the researchers is that both are

telling that sleep patterns of college student has its effect to their academic

performances.

Rosa (2002) put forward the analysis which showed that there was no

significant correlation between academic performance and sleep patterns. The

analysis also showed that there is no significant correlations between sleep patterns

and the other variable of sex, race, and age that were involved in the study.

Furthermore, there was no significant correlation evident between academic

performance and any of the variables of race, sex and age. The results of the study

conclude that students who had poor sleep patterns did not demonstrate poorer

academic performance. It did not appear that obtaining a full night of sleep insured

that a student would receive better grades.

 Lowry (2010) hypothesized that quality of sleep did not show a significant relationship

with academic performance. However, quantity of sleep was significantly related. The average

amount of sleep a student receives per night does seem to be tied to the student's GPA. Also, an

increased number of nights in an average week that the student obtains less than five hours of

sleep seems to be negatively related to GPA. Sleep deprivation affects cognitive processes. As

noted, sleep deprivation was defined to be functioning with less than five hours of sleep from the

previous night. However, sleep quality was not correlated with GPA. Different cultures may

view sleep habits in different ways and become accustomed to these habits. Student eventhough

sleep deprived can still perform well even at a higher level. Students may engage in more

positive behaviors in place of sleep, such as studying. Sleep quantity and academic performance

are related. Partial sleep deprivation measures for the average week, as well as the average

amount of sleep obtained in a night, were both related to GPA. This result holds many practical

applications for the college student.