Focus Group Questions – 2024 Qualitative Data

i. Our levels of alertness change during the day—sometimes we even feel sleepy.
(a) What do you notice when you don’t get enough sleep and it affects your performance, say
in school, or sport, or driving?

- I feel tired.
- No energy
- Sluggish
- Can’t think properly.
- Slur words.
- Hard to think.
- Hard to remember things.
- School:
o Can’t think straight.
o Writing is bad.
o Can’t remember things.
o Go off topic easily.
o Speed Reaction time.
o Zone out
o Better in afternoon
o Concentration
o Micro-dozing
o Not paying attention
o Remember less things.
o Find people annoying.
- Sport
o Less energy
o Fatigued harder to do things.
o Lack of awareness
o Mood is affected.
o Prone to emotion
- Drive:
o Pay less attention to surroundings.
o Prone to other things
- During the day when we feel sleepy it affects the following three areas: school, sport, and driving.
- School
- In school we tend to be less focused due to our decreased cognition and thus we tend to procrastinate more.
This leads to a lack of interest in the subject and thus we tend to be more careless and make more errors.
This then leads to us being frustrated with us and others and then we usually take it out on other people.
- Sport
- In sport many times, we feel lazy and end up with negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity as we can’t
play our best which also leads to being more frustrated. This also decreases our reaction times and
decreases our mobility on the pitch. This often leads to many of us getting substituted as we are
determinantal to the team’s overall play.
- Driving
- When driving when sleepy, we are bad at our hazard perception, and we lack awareness on the road which
can make us a danger to ourselves and others. Also, we make rash decision and take unnecessary risks due
to our lack of sleep as we want to go to bed.
- School
- Struggles to focus.
- Finds it way harder to focus, time feels like it is going slower, in math especially.
- Falling asleep during school
- Spacing out, not focusing
- Can’t be bothered to do homework and higher levels of procrastination.
- Putting off harder tasks.
- Going to the toilet to get off doing work.
- School day feels longer, lesson 2 feels like the end of the school day.
-
- Sports
- Zoned out until adrenaline hits.
- irritable, overall tired
- On competition days, recovery is slow and can’t focus.
- Reaction time decreased.
-
- Driving
- Easily distracted.
- Easy to zone and stop focusing, drifting out.
- Nearly falling asleep
- Not noticing signs or lights
-
- Music
- Exhausted, writing music feels less open, less intuition and a dark viscous in my brain.
(b) There may be some patterns in your feelings of sleepiness that you have noticed. Describe them.

- Home from school

- Around 5
- Powernaps and awake to 12.
- Regular naps?
o Had regular naps, my body used to it, now is tired around that time.
- White noise didn’t affect that much.
- Times when sleepy:
- After eating and drinking
- Muster/Chapel
- Sitting still for a long time
- Watching long videos
- First lesson is kind of bad.
- Fridays tired
- Monday is tiring.
- Light outside affects sleepiness.
- Brighter it is, more awake.
- Less sleep – more sleepy
- Sleep a lot – feel tired after
- Wake up sleepier than went to bed.
- Interrupted sleep bad
- Apathetic
o When feeling sleepy, you may notice a sense of apathy or indifference towards activities or
responsibilities. Tasks that usually excite or engage you might seem less appealing or even
burdensome.
- Hungry
o Sleepiness could trigger hunger or cravings, possibly due to hormonal fluctuations that affect
appetite regulation. This hunger might be more pronounced, leading to increased food intake or a
preference for quick, energy-dense snacks.
- Depressed
o Sleepiness can exacerbate feelings of sadness or hopelessness associated with depression. The
fatigue and cognitive fog that accompany sleepiness might amplify negative thoughts and emotions,
making it challenging to cope with daily stressors.
- Lack of Patience
o As tiredness sets in, tolerance for delays or frustrations may decrease. You might find yourself
becoming more irritable or short-tempered in situations that wouldn't typically bother you.
- Lethargic
o Feeling sleepy often goes hand in hand with a sense of lethargy or sluggishness. Simple tasks may
require more effort, and physical movement might feel more laborious than usual.
- Heart rate slows down.
o Physiological changes accompany sleepiness, including a decrease in heart rate. This reduction in
heart rate can contribute to feelings of relaxation or drowsiness, potentially leading to difficulty
staying alert and focused.
- Can’t focus.
o Sleepiness can impair cognitive function, making it difficult to concentrate or maintain attention on
tasks. You may find your mind wandering or struggling to retain information, impacting productivity
and performance.
- Caffeine makes me crash which then picks up later.

- Needs to watch movie at night to fall asleep.

- Watching TikTok until you physically can’t stay awake.

- Days when I don’t have enough sleep I feel more tired.

(c)How are the patterns related to times of day, or after food or drink?

- Food and drink sleepy

- After school to 5
- During School
- During double lesson
- Doing the same thing
- Doing training more tired – sleepy
- Less physical stimulation more awake
- If training in day, feel less sleepy.
- Training feels more awake.
- Tests – autopilot mode
- More you must think, more tired you get.
- Doing a test, not thinking
- After test, tired
- While doing test, still awake
- Subjects tired:
o Chem
o Maths
o English
o RP
RAVE
- Depends on teacher’s voice – Interactions.
- How people teach
- Lesson 5 and 6
- Irrelevant boring subjects, sleepy
- Lectures
- Rave lectures
- Where you’re not doing anything
- Going from doing a lot to doing nothing

- Our bodies often become accustomed to routines or schedules. As a result, certain behaviours, such as
feeling sleepy or experiencing mood swings, may occur consistently at specific times of the day, aligning with
regular activities or daily rhythms.
- After Lunch
o After consuming a meal, especially one rich in carbohydrates or fats, the body directs blood flow to
the digestive system to aid in the digestion and absorption of nutrients. This shift in blood flow away
from the brain can lead to feelings of lethargy and a decrease in mental alertness, commonly
referred to as the post-lunch dip or food coma.
- After work
o After completing a mentally demanding task, such as work or homework, the brain may experience a
period of fatigue or mental exhaustion. This can result in feelings of cognitive fatigue, decreased
motivation, and a desire to disengage from further mental exertion.
- Very lazy after a big meal, super lazy after a huge meal
- When you get home, the second I get home super sleepy.
- Mindlessly doing some solo activities time to sleep.
- Sleeping in phone calls
ii. Irritability, grumpiness, unreasonableness, and/or moodiness are behaviours that are associated
with not getting enough sleep.

(a) When you don’t get enough sleep how do you find this affects your behaviour?

- Moody
- More irritable
- Angry
- Unreasonable
- Angry
- A lot more irritable when not enough sleep
- Depends on the person.
- More sleep more calm
- Depends on the day.
- Go through the same day, but one has good sleep one has bad sleep.
- Would deal with bad things better with less sleep.
- Always feel bad either way
- Yawning
- Trouble making decisions.
- Trouble problem solving
- Emotions/Behaviours
- Coping with change
o Less content with family and friends
- You could notice that you're less likely to enjoy fun activities with family and friends when you don't get
enough sleep. Sleep deprivation can lower your mood and make it more difficult to enjoy and cherish the
presence of those you love.

Loss of tolerance and increasing irritability towards little issues: Lack of sleep frequently results in
heightened irritability and a reduction in patience. When you're sleep deprived, little annoyances or
frustrations that you may typically handle with easily can become major sources of annoyance or fury.

Lack of constancy in feelings and frequently results in emotional projection: Emotional regulation is upset by
sleep deprivation, leading to mood swings and difficulty sustaining a stable emotional state.
- Grumpy when sleepy and a lot more irritable.
- Quick to anger, can’t deal with things that you normally can.
- Less sociable, less time for people
- Sick of people, don’t have to do anything bad just gets sick of them.
- Less rational responses

-
(b) When you notice it, what sorts of things change in your behaviour?

- More annoyed than usual

- Can’t perform at peak.
- Depends on who the person is.
- Can’t concentrate on what you’re saying.
- Mates’ vs someone you don’t like.
- More angry
- High stress
- Anxiety
- Do less.
- More lethargic move less
- Angrier – do less to try and solve it.
- Less motivation
- More easily distracted.
-
- Don’t take it personally: When you notice these patterns affecting your behaviour, you may consciously or
instinctively refrain from taking things personally. You might become more aware of your emotional
reactions and choose not to interpret external events or interactions as reflections of your worth or
character. This shift in mindset can help preserve your self-esteem and prevent unnecessary stress or
conflict.
- Detach: Recognizing these patterns may prompt you to adopt a more detached or objective perspective in
your interactions and decision-making. Rather than reacting impulsively or emotionally, you may consciously
step back from situations, allowing yourself time and space to assess them more rationally. This detachment
can promote clarity of thought and reduce the likelihood of making decisions based on fleeting emotions.
- Don’t take it out on other people: Increased self-awareness of these patterns can also lead to a greater sense
of accountability for your behaviour, particularly in how you interact with others. You may make a concerted
effort to refrain from projecting your frustrations or irritability onto those around you, instead seeking
healthy outlets for processing and managing your emotions. This can foster more constructive
communication and relationships, minimizing the risk of conflict or misunderstanding.
- I regret staying up too late the last night.
- More extroverted, outgoing and say things I wouldn’t.
- Rationalise everything, excuse for everything, can’t do things when I’m tired.
- Trying to take a nap, not because tired but because I know I can’t accomplice anything
without a nap.
(c) What do you notice in other people’s behaviour that can be attributed to lack of sleep?

- Facial expression:
o Not smiling
o Blank expression
- Eyes:
o Eye bags
o Eye’s almost closed
- Less responsive
- Short responsive/dry
- Quiet
- Irritable
- Can’t put up with much.
- Less motivated
- Yawning
- Moody
- Susceptible to snapping easily.
- Unresponsive – being asked a question.
- Reaction time is slower.
- Eyes close
- Fall asleep in situations.
- Complaining about tiredness
- Complaining that things are boring or long.
- Complaining for no reason
- Speak slower.
- More sarcastic
- Nasal sounding
- Croaky voice
- Unfriendly
- Awareness
- Lack of empathy

- Impatience: Sleep deprivation often leads to decreased tolerance for delays or inconveniences,
causing individuals to become more impatient and restless in their interactions and activities.
- Less Tolerance: With sleep deprivation, individuals may have a reduced ability to tolerate stress or
frustration, leading to shorter fuses and heightened sensitivity to minor annoyances or disruptions.
- Increased Frustration: Sleep-deprived individuals may exhibit heightened levels of frustration in
response to challenges or setbacks, finding it harder to remain calm and composed in the face of
adversity.
- Poor decision making: Lack of sleep impairs cognitive function, including judgment and decision-
making abilities. As a result, sleep-deprived individuals may be more prone to making impulsive or
irrational decisions that they might later regret.
- Slower decision making: Sleep deprivation can delay neural processing, resulting in slower reaction
times and diminished coordination. This can manifest in delayed responses to stimuli or decreased
accuracy in tasks requiring quick reflexes.
- Quiet environments: Sensory sensitivity can increase with sleep deprivation, leading individuals to
seek out quiet environments and avoiding noisy or stimulating surroundings that can exacerbate
feelings of fatigue or discomfort.
- Headaches: Sleep deprivation can contribute to tension headaches or migraines due to increased
muscle tension and heightened sensitivity to pain.
- Can’t take a joke.
- Less sociable
- More irritable, don’t listen as much.
- A lot quieter
- Slouched, drowsy.
- More lonesome, withdrawn.
 iii. In many European countries they have an afternoon ‘siesta’ (rest or sleep) for a few hours.

(a) What effects would the introduction of this idea to Australia have on our way of life?

- Hard with transport

- Sport would be very late.
- Extra sleep will help with energy levels.
- After Meal
- 2-5pm
- What happens to school?
- Stay up later.
- Studying would be more effective.
- Depends on subject.
- Promote more night life.
- Shop open later.
- Workers working less hours – won’t make required wage – results in less successful economy.
- Effects on Education:
- Stage 2 exam near the end (6pm)
- Focus on nap rather than school.
- Take away last 2 lessons – then nap more time to study, and will be awake again – more effective?
- How students utilise that time
- Depends on people – study ethics.

- more relaxed
- could be less productive.
- less stress
- not need to worry about sleep pattern.
- adequate rest
- can work late.
- Would stay up later into the night.
- More inconsistent sleeping schedule
- Restructuring of economy
(b) Perhaps some people are already doing this—the so-called ‘power nap’. How do you think the idea of
napping might be useful for managing tiredness?

- Napping would give you boost of energy.

- Depends on person how much sleep they need.
- Taking powernap is important if you have something really tiring in the morning then something really tiring
at night.
- Naps help with intensive work.
- Powernap important to ‘replenish’ energy.
- Improved memory
- increased productivity
- Less tired
- Knowing you took a nap makes you feel less tired – Placebo.
- Makes you feel like you’ve done something good.
- More alert
- Decreased soreness.
- Less fatigue
- More productive in afternoon
- Increased cognition
- Decreased procrastination.
- Less lazy
- More motivation
- Easier to control impulse.
- Able to communicate better.
- Able to be more patient.
- not good for you
- Messes up sleep schedule.
- Offputs the sleep
- An hour after the nap you would feel tired again.
- Wake up earlier.