We believe that listening to noises while sleeping will improve your sleep quality and help fall asleep faster. Generally listening to music or other sounds, especially if it’s calm or ambient, can help relax the mind by lowering stress levels and anxiety. Also the noises we are testing out are able to reduce mental and physical tension in the body. The slow and steady tempo we'll be listening to can slow down your breathing make you be able to get better quality of sleep. Additionally listening to music can distract you from overthinking by making you focus on the noise providing you with a distraction from worry allowing you to be able to fall asleep faster.

How sleep works

Stages of sleep

There are 4 stages of sleep N1,N2,N3 and REM

N1 - 1-7 minutes, in this stage the body isn’t fully relaxed and people in this state can be easily woken up

N2 - 10-25 minutes, in N2 the body is more relaxed and the heart rate and breathing start slowing down

N3 - 20-40 minutes, in a deep sleep and the brain releases delta waves (also why this stage can be called delta sleep), allows for the body to recover and grow and could also possible help the immune system and other processes in your body, mainly in the first half of the night

REM  - 10-60 minutes, during this stage your body’s muscles are temporarily paralyzed except for the muscles that control your breathing and the eyes (this is called atonia), eyes can still be seen moving even when they are closed, mainly present in the second half of the night, stage where most dreams happen and the brain activity seems almost as active as when you’re awake, helpful for memory and learning 

These stages of sleep repeat around 4-6 times each night

What is a circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythm is kind of like your body’s internal clock that tells your body when to sleep and when to wake up naturally, it can also affect other processes like body temperature. Other factors can affect your circadian rhythm like staying up late,pulling all nighters or exposure to light from screens or lamps (stops production of melatonin,the hormone that helps you sleep) 

How does sleep deprivation affect your health

What is sleep deprivation

sleep deprivation - not getting enough sleep/staying awake or not getting quality sleep (can be short term or long term)

- getting quality sleep means being able to fall asleep quickly, feel well rested in the morning and getting the reccomended amount of sleep for your age group.

Mental health

1. sleep helps regulate emotions, reduces mood swings and other things like emotional outburts

2. sleep is important for decision making, problem solving, concentration and lack of sleep can affect with learning and remembering long term information 

3. getting a good amount of sleep is able to lower cortisol/stress hormones and is able to prevent chronic stress build up (long term stress)

4. poor sleep can make your mental health worse leading to anxiety,depression,bipolar and other illnesses, having quality sleep can help reduce that.

5. having good quality sleep can improve your mood and patience

Physical health

1. weakens your body's immune system leading to increased risks of getting a cold, flu or other illnesses

2. not sleeping enough can increase the risk of heart disease 

3. disrupts ghrenlin and leptin (hunger hormones) and affects your metabolism and weight gain

4. affects your muscle growth and energy levels

5. can lead to higher blood sugar levels and raises the risks of devleoping diabetes

6. slows down tissue repair and muscle recovery

Cognitive Function

Cognitive function - the ability to be able to learn,think,pay attention etc. 

1. sleep deprivation makes it harder to remember new information 

2. people have lowered focus and is more prone to make mistakes and take longer on work

3. reaction time is slowed and the brain takes longer to respond to information

4. lack of sleep causes impaired judgement, logical and critical thinking decline

Manipulated variables - type of music/noise

Controlled variables -  sleeping around the same time, amount of sleep, sleep environment, around the same age group, sound volume and distance to the participant, same noises/videos.

Responding variable - quality of sleep - do you feel well rested,did you dream etc.

1. conduct inital sleep experiment questionairee ( when do you usually sleep and wake up etc.)

2. establish baseline sleep data 

2.  do your normal bedtime routine and also turn off all screens at least half an hour before bed

3. turn off the lights and put the music beside you on low volume but still loud enough for you to hear 

4. record and answer questions about the quality of your sleep etc. everyday

5. conduct a post sleep experiment questionaire

6. analyze and compare data

Had 4 participants 

First 4 days - tester/base ( no sound )

Participants mentioned 

averaging 8/10 on feeling rested

not having dreams

averaging taking ten minutes to fall asleep

being tired before bed

Averaging a 7/10 for the difficulty of getting out of bed

Next two days ( White noise)

Averaging 5.5 on feeling rested

not having dreams

Averaging 25 minutes to fall asleep

tired before bed

averaging 6/10 difficulty getting out if bed

Next two days (piano)

averaging 7/10 feeling rested

no dreams

averaging  12 minutes to fall asleep

Often feeling tired before falling asleep 

averaging 8 /10 on the difficulty on getting out of bed

Nature Sounds 

To Be Countuied

In today's world, teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night most take 7 hours and sometimes five or six so in our project we're trying to see what sound impacts your sleep the most who's and which one to use to impact your sleep for the better so even though you're trying to pull off all-nighters you're getting quality sleep. We found volunteers and participants to put a set sound each night that we give to them. They completed a tester and then continued to White Noise and then pianos. Our participants had trouble transitioning from complete silence to background noise while sleeping. With the data we collected so far it would be best to continue sleeping in silence or sleep with white noise. Using the piano would have been our last option due to it having the least amount of rest fullness and having a hard time getting up but is nicer to listen to. They all have their pros and cons but with white noise, it is easier to get out of bed, and with silence, you get a better quality sleep, and with piano which is nicer to listen to. Assume it is easier to get out of bed with white noise because, with the data from all of our participants and some notes, they had a very hard to getting a good quality of sleep with that. So your best bet would be sleeping in silence though this may change after our participants go through with the nature noise and this also may change should we have conducted a longer experiment. It also may have changed if we included another variety of noises such as a busy street or people talking, animal noises, etc. Using this information could allow teenagers who are staying up late to attempt to get a better sleep for the school day tomorrow or just perform better in general.

In conclusion, our participants slept in silence so at first the change impacted our results so we gave them a couple of days to sleep with sound to get used to it tester which is no noise people often had an average out of 10 on feeling rested didn't have any dreams and averaging taking 10 minutes to fall asleep most of the time they felt tired before bed and averaged to 7 out of 10 on feeling groggy and difficulty in getting out of bed in the morning. With white noise, people often felt tired in the morning but as usual didn't have any dreams they averaged  25 minutes to fall asleep and were usually tired before bed and had a six out of 10 difficulty in getting out of bed in the morning either feeling too groggy or want to stay in bed. When piano started, our participants averaged a 7 out of 10 for feeling rested and still didn't have any dreams. our participants averaged 12 minutes to fall asleep and still felt tired before falling asleep and averaged 8 out of 10  difficulty in getting out of bed. 

This experiment helps to optimize your sleep quality and you could try some of these sounds to see which one makes you feel the most well rested. Our experiment also helps raise awareness on how important sleep is not just for kids but for everybody.

When doing this experiment the participants couldn't have the exact same amount of sleep and they experience different day to day situations which could impact their sleep. We also could have done the experiment longer for better results and controlled sleep conditions better .

Our sources for research,images,videos etc.

Research sources

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/circadian-rhythm

https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-your-mental-health

Health-effects

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation/lack-of-sleep-and-cognitive-impairment

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11874-stress

Sleep-awareness-week

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

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/how-to-determine-poor-quality-sleep#:~:text=You%20typically%20sleep%20straight%20through,waking%20up%20in%20the%20morning.

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/emotions-cognitive

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/cognitive-functioning#:~:text=Cognitive%20functioning%20refers%20to%20multiple,%2C%20decision%20making%2C%20and%20attention.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355167#:~:text=Overview,level%20and%20affect%20your%20mood.

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-apnea#:~:text=Sleep%20apnea%20is%20a%20common,talk%20to%20your%20healthcare%20provider.

https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/narcolepsy#:~:text=What%20is%20narcolepsy%3F,throughout%20much%20of%20the%20day.

Thank you to the participants who helped with this experiment, as well as to our parents who put up with us and supported us, teachers, and judges. We couldn't have done this without you. Dr.Zia and Mrs. Frissen especially guided us.