How does sleep affecting academic performance?

When you sleep, your body rests from the day, while your body rests, your brain continues to work hard during your sleep. Without sleep, students lose focus and memory. Studies have shown that students who reccive less that 6 hours will experiance a deteriation of their academic performance gradually. Sleep is esential for memory rentention and academic performance. You may sometime hear people to tell you to do something bed because before you sleep your brain retains in your brain for memory. Sleep retains, recalls, and memorizing things. This may also spark inspirations, creativity, and innovative solutions. 24% of teenage student's grades have slipped due to sleepiness. Sleepiness can lead to memory loss and thats why it is  extremely important to get at least six hours of sleep because when a person does not get enough sleep they lack their problem solving skills but even if we don't talk about academic problems, someone could have a lot of trouble figuring out what to do in the morning for example, what clothes to wear, forgetting to brush their teeth, forgetting learning materials at home when they need it for school. Sleepiness can affect ones's mood because they may be very grumpy when people try to talk to them. Problems they face are learning efficiency, emotional regulation, memory consolidation, and attention and focus.

Learning efficiency

- Good quality sleep will result in enhances to the brain to retain new information on academic material, this will result in a growthsburg in learning meaning you learn quicker.

- Bad quality sleep will have the consequence of slower learning pace than normal and may lead to stress, panic, and anxiety because if you haven't done any studying and there was a test the next morning, you are risking failing that class.

Emotional Regulation

- Mood swings

- Stress

- Panic 

- Anxiousness 

- Lack of Self-encourgement and motivation

Memory Consolidation

- Sleep is when the brain processes the information that you collected during the day 

- Taking away sleeping time will occur in memory loss and forgetfulness

- Some people say that if you want to get good at something for memory, do it before bed, they are absolutely correct because the brain processes before you go to bed.

Attention and Focus

A lack of sleep significantly lower your sense of reaction and cognition, like:

- Reduced attention span

- Impaired concentration

- Slower reaction times

There are different methods to manage our sleep routines so we could actually sleep more. For example, you should follow a consistent bedtime routine so you can plan when you're going to sleep everyday. You should also wind down at least 1 hour before bedtime to do meditation or calming yourself down, doing personal hygiene way before going to bed so you could have some time to wind yourself down and not missing your bedtime routine. Remember to also avoid consuming too much food and caffeine as well as exercising, 3 hours before going to sleep as these activities can boost energy, so you might experience insomnia after you do these. You will also need to make your room comfy by cooling the room down to around 15 to 19 degrees Celsius (or around 60 to 67 degrees in Farenheit), clear out all electronics in your room to avoid checking your phone in the middle of the night and try to blackout your bedroom

How to master sleep hygiene: Paying attention to sleep hygiene is one of the most straightforward ways that you can set yourself up for better sleep. Strong sleep hygiene means having both a bedroom environment and daily routines that promote consistent, uninterrupted sleep. Every sleeper can tailor their sleep hygiene practices to suit their needs. In the process, you can harness positive habits to make it easier to sleep soundly throughout the night and wake up well-rested. Obtaining healthy sleep is important for both physical and mental health, improving productivity and overall quality of life. Everyone, from children to older adults, can benefit from better sleep, and sleep hygiene can play a key part in achieving that goal. 

How does sleep actually affect our productivity?: 

Cognitive function, sleep and work productivity are closely related. Adequate sleep is essential for maintaining a sharp brain, which in turn affects productivity. 
A lack of sleep can result in a reduced attention span, slower reaction times, poorer decision-making and decreased creativity. 

This can significantly impact productivity, particularly in jobs that require high levels of mental performance. On the other hand, getting sufficient sleep has been linked to improved cognitive function, including better memory, faster reaction times and enhanced creativity. Well-rested individuals are more productive at work, completing tasks more quickly and accurately.

Adequate sleep is essential for physical, emotional and mental well-being, and is crucial for maintaining optimal productivity and performance in the workplace. Example: Increased energy, improved moods, better physical health, etc.

What is sleep deprivation?: Sleep deprivation is when you aren’t sleeping enough, or you aren’t getting good, quality sleep. When it’s severe or happens over an extended period, it can cause very disruptive symptoms that interfere with even the most routine activities. Long-term sleep deprivation can worsen many major health conditions. This condition is usually treatable.

What are the probable causes?: 

Sleep deprivation can happen for numerous reasons. Many of these have to do with the circumstances of your life.

• Shift work (especially shifts that happen partly or fully during nighttime hours).
• Alcohol use (especially misuse).
• Using stimulants like caffeine later in the day.
• Bad sleep-related habits (known as sleep hygiene).
• High stress levels.
• Sleeping in a new or unfamiliar place, such as in a hotel while traveling.
• And late-night light sources and electronic uses. 

 

Long term sleep loss causes risk of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, depression, stroke, and heart attack. You may hear that tennagers may experiance mood swings very often. This is caused with the root cause being no other than the famous " Not enough sleep", tennagers throw insane parties that run probably til past midnight. Loss of sleep can lead to agitation, being snappy and angry over little things. Sleep deprivation can cause poor body performances, emotinal distress, and even more long-term effects. It is highly recommended to get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. As people stress about things in their life, or stay up late working or partying or doing other activities, the time to sleep reduced by a lot. It is better to stay meditated and not staying up late so that you could get more of a good night's sleep. These days,people, especially teenagers, are not getting enough sleep because of busy works and staying up late with electronics or cellular devices. This is mostly due to the lack of proper sleep hygiene and disorganized schedules between working and resting, etc. For reference, up to 70% of teenagers fell short on the recommended sleep schedule, mostly caused by homework and uses of elctronic devices and also late-night parties, as mentioned earlier. Meanwhile, up to 33% of adults are sleep deprived, even though they have a more proper schedule, they still most of the time worried for work late at night. They've severe anxiety and stress about their life problems, causing a lot of tossing and turning or insomnia while sleeping. Globally, about 35% of people, a largely significant amount of individuals, reports that they're not getting enough sleep. Studies also showed that men sleep less than women, potentially due to differences in brain functions and societal roles. Majority of people who are sleep deprived do less and worse in school, works and even physical activities, which is up to 40% of sleep-deprived populations.

In conclusion, sleep is extremely necessary for your academic performance and productivity because sleeping helps replenish your body energy to improve brain functions, cognitive functions and reflexes. after a good night's sleep, your body will feel way more energized and the energy will be used to enhance your overall performance. This is why sleeping is a really crucial part of our lives. It is important to get on average 8 hours of sleep every night, through a scientific research. If you don't have a good sleeping routine, you'll likely do worse in work and school as you are not energized at all. If so, then you need to schedule between activities and sleep better, becuase both of these need to be balanced and well-done.

1.

Title:Mastering Sleep Hygiene: Your Path to Quality Sleep

Website title:Sleep Foundation

URL:https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene

Date published:March 4, 2024

Date accessed:March 10, 2025

Author:David Rosen

2. 

Title:How Sleep Can Help Productivity

Website title:Timely

URL:https://www.timely.com/blog/how-sleep-can-help-productivity

Date published:May 15, 2023

Date accessed:March 10, 2025

Author:Katherine Bebo

3. 

Title:Sleep Deprivation: What It Is, Symptoms, Treatment & Stages

Website title:Cleveland Clinic

URL:https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23970-sleep-deprivation

Date published:August 11, 2022

Date accessed:March 10, 2025

Contributors: Missing?

 

 

Ben and I would like to acknowledge our science fair teacher, Mrs. Offord, for teaching us and guiding us through our science fair process, Our Principal, Mr. Parent, for providing a space for education and making sure the daily round of studies and teaching is ensured at H.D Cartwright School. I would like to thank my partner Ben for helping me in the science fair this year and to our parents for providing us with learning materials such as, our electronics and a roof over our heads. I would like to thank you CYSF for hosting Science fair this year so that students from all schools across Calgary are able to participate in such an incredible event. 

Thank you.

Sincerely 

Solomon and Ben