Group 7 ABM – 1H

The Perceived Effects of Lack of Sleep on the Academic Performance of CEIS Makati

students for the S.Y: 2016-2017

Chapter II: Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents the related literature and studies after the thorough and in-depth

search done by the researchers. This will also present the synthesis of the art, theoretical and

conceptual framework to fully understand the research to be done and lastly the definition of

terms for better comprehension of the study.

According to Soliven (2016) Sleepless Sleep, "quality of our sleep directly affects the

quality of our waking life, including our productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical

vitality and even our weight". It correlates to our study because it supports the fact that sleep is

essential to humans and in a state of rest the brain overseas the great work to keep our bodies

running in prime condition.

Therefore it shows that the less sleep we get, the lesser performance or productivity we do on our

daily activities including studies.

According to Omar Afandi’s article Sleep Quality Among University Students:

Evaluating the Impact of Smoking, Social Media Use, and Energy Drink Consumption on Sleep

Quality and Anxiety (2013), university life is accompanied by many new stressful challenges,

with increased freedom, self-responsibility, disorganized lifestyle, variable schedules, repeated

deadlines, dormitory living, and social and academic obligations. In order to be able to cope with

these challenges, students voluntarily alter their sleeping habits. Sleep is the period in which the
basic metabolic rate decreases, soft tissue and muscles are relaxed and revitalized, and the brain

is able to process things that have been learned during the day (Clifford, 2007).

Harvard Women’s Health Watch states there are six reasons for getting enough sleep,

namely for improved learning and memory, maintenance of metabolism and weight, increased

safety, enhanced mood, cardiovascular health and boosting up the immune system (Nicholoson,

2006). Prolonged periods of time with deprivation of sleep can lead to negative changes such as

hallucinations, poor mental clarity, and often provoked disease, or even death. Many studies

have directly correlated the majority of car accidents with lack of sleep (Clifford, 2007).

Students’ poor sleep habits and consequent poor sleep quality can have many mental, as

well as physiological consequences. Students who spend their night getting one to two hours of

less sleep have a tendency to accumulate a “sleep debt” which leads to excessive daytime

sleepiness (Voelker, 2004; Teter, 2006). Deprivation of sleep to less than six to seven hours per

day can lead to serious impairment of cognitive and psychomotor function(reduces

concentration, memory and thinking strategies), daytime dysfunction, increased incidence of

sleep related accidents (Teter, 2006; Banks, 2007; Brown, 2002), and diminished academic

performance, often resulting in poor grades (Teter, 2006; Smith, 2005; Tsai, 2004).

It was noticed that students experiencing sleep deprivation try to avoid more difficult

tasks (Trockel, 2009). Also, they often are not aware that the difficulties they are have

academicallycan be directly relatedto their poor sleep quality (Engle-Friedman, 2003) and might

get depressed about someone with a lower cognitive ability scoring better on a test than them,

due to the fact that the latter had a better night’s sleep. This would explain the commonly heard
comment, “I can’t understand why I did so badly, I spent all the previous day studying” (Engle-

Friedman, 2003; Pilcher, 1997).

The poor academic performance in students having poor sleep quality could be connected

to loss of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Students who sleep less than eight hours per night

miss some of the last two hours of REM sleep. Those two hours of REM sleep tend to be the

most important for further processing of newly learned material (Buboltz, 2001; Smith, 2001;

Smith, 1991). Therefore, if students experience sleep deprivation (with decreased REM sleep),

irregular sleep schedules, or poor sleep quality, the rate at which they learn new material will be

reduced (Buboltz, 2001). However, even if students sleep eight hours per night, if they shift their

sleep/wake cycle by two hours, they may experience difficulty concentrating (Smith, 2004).

Students meeting the criteria for delayed sleep phase disorder have been shown to have

significantly lower grades, greater feelings of drowsiness, and more irritability compared to

students without this sleeping disorder (Smith, 2004). Chronic shifting of the sleep/wake cycle

has also been associated with feelings of depression, reduced affability, and increased irritability.

Students who report excessive daytime sleepiness also disclose more frequent use of marijuana

and alcohol and may potentially have a greater tendency to abuse caffeine and nicotine (Voelker,

2004; Smith, 2004).

Sleep deprivation can have serious side effects on different processes in our body,

including endocrine, immunologic, metabolic and cardiovascular.The extents of these effects

depend on how severe the sleep deprivation is (Teter, 2006; Buboltz, 2002).

When sleep is restricted to four hours per night in healthy young adults, abnormal

endocrine responses (increased evening cortisol levels, increased sympathetic activation,

decreased thyrotropin activity, and decreased glucose tolerance) and altered secretory patterns of

appetite-regulating hormones (decreased leptin and increased ghrelin secretion) are observed.

The latter effect is likely to increase appetite, which may promote weight gain and obesity

(Banks, 2007).

Chronic sleep deprivation has also been associated with alteration of immune system

function, the potential consequences being increased susceptibility to illness due to impaired host

defenses (Smith, 1991) and activation of systemic inflammatory immune responses involved in

the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease (Banks, 2007).

With respect to the latter, epidemiological studies have shown an increase in

cardiovascular events in subjects averaging ≤5 or ≤7 hours of sleep per night (Smith, 1991).

Other studies on the effects of insomnia have also shown that it can be an affective predictor of

hypertension in adult males (Smith, 2004), and CAD mortality in middle-aged individuals (Suka,

2003). A high incidence of diabetes has also been observed in middle-aged males with sleep

complaints or short-duration sleep (Mallon, 2002).

In addition, further studies of the effect of insomnia have established a link between poor

sleep and risk for the development of mood changes, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, and substance

abuse in young adults (Mallon, 2005; Ford, 1989; Breslau, 1996).

It is well known that sleep quality has neurobehavioral and physiological consequences

that might affect students’ health, well-being, and academic functioningpositively or negatively.

Therefore, the aim of the present study is to assess the different factors which affect the quality

of sleep in students and correlate the effect of poor sleep quality with the performances and

behaviors of related to students.

 Leonardo L. Leonidas said in “Students need more sleep” that when he was still a

student, he usually cram studying the night before their test because he believes that they will do

better and will retain more knowledge by doing this. But according to study, students need 8

hours of sleep to perform better at their tests and also adding a nap at the afternoon helps

improve their memory. There is also an experiment that gave students a mathematical tests with

some tips on how to solve is an easy way that they have to find in the process. Only 20 percent of

the students that were not allowed to sleep got the shortcuts but the students who was allowed to

sleep 8 hours performed better. Leonardo said that the more we study about the effects of sleep,

the more we find the purpose of adequate sleep is to improve our memory and boost our

learning. He also stated that “Sleep loss is mind loss” which is very true according to his study

and the others.

Sleep complaints are prevalent among college students and are associated with a number

of negative outcomes. According to a recent study conducted by S. Justin Thomas (2014), " it is

known that college students frequently report difficulties falling asleep daytime, hyper

somnolence, and fatigue. However, specific data regarding the presentation of sleep disordered

symptoms and exact diagnostic prevalence are lacking. "

In Justin S. Thomas’s research, " students with sleep disorder reported more physical and

mental health complaints but not worse at academic performance than students without a sleep

disorder."

The results suggest that sleep complaints and disorders are prevalent among college

students. Furthermore, sleep problems are associated with increased mental and physical health

complaints. However, it does not appear that sleep problems affect academic performance. These
results suggest that sleep complaints are not only prevalent among college students but are

associated with negative mental/physical health outcomes. Therefore, sleep symptoms should be

considered in the management of students' health. Additionally, sleep education and, when

necessary, sleep disorder treatment may improve college students' overall quality of life.

Normative biological, psychological, and social changes that occur during adolescence

contribute to insufficient sleep time, irregular sleep schedules, and sleepiness in teenagers.

According to Melissa Moore’s (2007) conducted research, "such negative changes in

sleep may lead to psychosocial consequences such as depressed mood and behavior problems."

Everyone knows a night spent without sleep (or having little sleep) can result in fatigue and bad

mood in the morning; many would consider this a small price for a night of fun or productive

labor. However, several sleepless nights can cause more serious mental effects. In particular,

your ability to focus and to make decisions will decrease significantly; having a foggy brain and

unclear thinking, as well as falling asleep mid-day are also among the possible negative effects.

Obviously, abstaining from sleep has no positive effects on the human body. One-night

deprivation of sleep results in fatigue and irritability; several sleepless nights affect one’s ability

to concentrate and make decisions.

Synthesis

Studies and literature, both local and foreign states that lacking of sleep has a huge effect

on not just a person’s academic performance but also in his/her social life , mental and physical

health. According to the local and foreign literature, it all strongly suggests that sleep

depriviation affects a student’s academic performances drastically. Students tend to put less

effort on what they are doing and they always tend to avoid difficult tasks and opt for more
convenient or easier ones. They also stated that students who lacks sleep tend to have memory

loss and have struggle and difficulty to accumulate and learn new informations. It also suggests

that one of the reasons why students lack sleep and do less in school is because of workloads,

assignments, reports and activities coming from the school. It made the students alter their sleep

to do all their workloads for school late at night and eventually affects their performance in

school. This helped us in our research by giving us some useful informations about the effects of

lack of sleep on student’s academic performance. According to the local and foreign studies that

we’ve reviewed on, students need to have 8-9 hours of sleep daily for them to not be sleep

deprived and for them not to experience negative effects caused by not following this. It also

suggests that lack of sleep is not mainly the cause but only a factor contributor of poor

academic performances of a student. The studies and literature, both local and foreign that we’ve

reviewed on suggests that the effects of lack of sleep on a student’s academic performance are

inability to focus and make decisions, falling asleep mid-day, fatigue, mood swings, depression,

difficulty in accumulating new informations and memory loss.

Bibliography:

Afandi, O. et. al. 2013, Sleep Quality Among University Students: Evaluating the Impact of

Smoking, Social Media Use, and Energy Drink Consumption on Sleep Quality and

Anxiety, VOL. 5 NO. 06, Pg. 1-3

Moore, M. 2007, The Relationship Between Sleep Time, sleepiness, and Psychological

Functioning in Adolescents, Case Western Reserve University, ProQuest Dissertations

Publishing, Pg. 7-8. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/pqdt/docview/304886093/previewPDF/FBBF0A9A72E64416

PQ/2?accountid=31613

Thomas, J. 2014, A survey of sleep disorders in college students: A study of prevalence and

outcomes, The University of Alabama, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, Pg. 4-5.

Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/pqdt/docview/1619605802/previewPDF/E6B529B0001C461

PQ/3?accountid=31613

Soliven, P. 2016, Sleepless sleep, Retrieved from

http://beta.philstar.com/other-

sections/education-and-home/2016/05/26/1587063/sleepless-sleep
MEMBERS:

Erika Besoro

Veronyca Lois Dela Cruz

Alysandra Ramos

Mary FlorAcuin