How sleep habits are correlated to academic performance

Determinants of Sleep Quality in College Students

Reference: Feifei Wang, Éva Bíró, (2021) Determinants of sleep quality in college students: A literature review, Explore, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2021,Pages 170-177, ISSN 1550-8307, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2020.11.003. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830720303736)

Overview: This academic article look’s to detail the common element of sleep quality within college students. Here, the authors leverage a variety of academic sources such as PubMed, Web of Science, and other library databases to examine sleep quality factors and outcomes for college students. The authors classified roughly 110 studies into determinates that impacted sleep quality. Here the authors coded each research article within the three databases. They were then separated into several categories based on their risk factors. A snippet of the consideration criteria is listed below

Figure 1

From the review of the academic literature, the authors found that sleep quality is a large contributor to academic outcomes for students. Interestingly the authors found that caffeine and energy drink intake heavily impacted sleep quality for college students. Here, students received less consistent outcomes and experienced irregular sleep patterns within a highly stressful environment. Finally the authors found that eating habits also have a strong correlation to sleep patterns amount students. Overall, the authors attempted to identify different risk factors that could adversely impact sleep patterns from college students. By reviewing over 110 academic studies, they were able to find common threads or themes that impacted sleep patterns for college students. These themes consisted heavily of sleep patterns, eating habits, and caffeine intake. Controlling for these variables students were better able to improve their overall academic outcomes as they were better able to control their sleep patterns.

The shortcomings of this literature are that it does not conduct any primary research. Instead, it relies on the work of other authors and their methodology. Although the authors do a fine job of segmenting the research by category, it is still difficult to compare nearly 110 different academic articles for consistency. This is a shortcoming as the authors have not done their own research into the matter and are instead relying on others to provide critical inputs into their overall methodology. The advantage of this study relative to the others is its reliance on academic studies already approved and published. This provides a solid foundation by which to categorize and review previously conducted research. A weakness as compared to other articles is that less primary research is being conducted on the part of the authors who are relying on the work and findings of others.

Stress and Burnout Among Graduate Students

Reference: Allen, H. K., Barrall, A. L., Vincent, K. B., & Arria, A. M. (2021). Stress and Burnout Among Graduate Students: Moderation by Sleep Duration and Quality. International journal of behavioral medicine, 28(1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09867-8

Overview: This academic study looks to research the high levels of stress amount graduate students and how sleep impacts outcomes for these students. Here, the research attempts to explain the relationship between stress, burnout and sleep deprivation among graduate students. Here, the study took a sample of 2700 master's, doctoral, and professional graduate students from two large, public universities completed an online survey. They then ran linear regression models to determine the relationship to stress and burnout.

To begin, although the sample size is large, it is heavily skewed towards only two universities. This does not represent a broad and diversified approach towards sampling. As a result, the outcomes form the study may not be indicative of the overall graduate student population as only two public universities were reviewed.

The survey and regression model found that graduate and doctoral students slept an average of 6 hours per night. The survey also indicated that 62% self-reported that they experienced “good” sleep quality. From these inputs the authors were able to determine that exhaustion had a very significant positive correlation to stress, and inefficiencies. As expected, this correlation between stress and exhaustion diminished as the student was able to sleep longer. This indicates that the relationship between stress and exhaustion is very weak when students are able to obtain high quality sleep. Overall the study concluded that sleep habits have a large degree of correlation as it relates to the ability of students to lower their overall stress levels. Figure two below presents the results in a graphical format.

Figure 2

The primary advantage of this article relative to the others is its large sample size. The sampe of 2700 students is statisitically significant and further validates the observations relative to the others studies below. In addition, diversity of respondents is also appealing in this study as compared to the others. A disadvantage is that community college students were not leveraged in the study which could have providing still futher insights into sleep habits and academic performance.

Relationship between sleep habits and academic performance in university Nursing students.

Reference: Gallego-Gómez, J.I., González-Moro, M.T.R., González-Moro, J.M.R. et al (2021). Relationship between sleep habits and academic performance in university Nursing students. BMC Nurs 20, 100. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00635-x

Overview: Here, the article attempts to analyze sleep habits of nursing students and if they have any predictive power as it relates to academic performance. The study was a cross-sectional observation study. Here the author created their own questionnaire using the “Morningness and Eveningness scale.” They also generated a questionnaire using socio-familial and academic based questions solely focused on nursing students. The overall sample size was 401 students within nursing programs within 24 states. Much like the students mentioned above, roughly 60% of nursing students where characterized as having good sleeping habits. However, roughly one third of students where characterized as having bad sleeping habits. Per the study, the researchers where able to determine that bad sleep habits were partially correlated to poor academic performance. However, the authors acknowledge the shortcomings of the study and recognize that other variable may potentially have a greater impact on nursing student performance. These factors include teacher competency, the overall culture of the academic institution, and other social elements surrounding the student. The advantage of this study is that it focuses heavily on nursing students in particular as compared to a much broader assortment of students. This can also be a negative as the findings found in this study may not be relevant to other disciplines which are often less stressful and may require a less time commitment on the part of the student.

Differences in sleep habits, study time, and academic performance between US-born and foreign-born college students

References: Eliasson, A. H., Eliasson, A. H., & Lettieri, C. J. (2017). Differences in sleep habits, study time, and academic performance between US-born and foreign-born college students. Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung, 21(2), 529–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-016-1412-2

Overview: This academic article looks to determine the cultural influence of sleep habits and academic performance between US-born and foreign-born college students. Here, the activity article looks to design and ultimately improve sleep improvement programs for college students. To determine the variable that heavily contribute to sleep habits, the authors designed a questionnaire and administered it to 120 participates. The participants were roughly split between US-born and foreign-born college students. A majority of the participates were white. Interestingly, there were no differences between US-born and foreign-born students for grade point averages, weekday bedtimes, wake times, or total sleep times. The study did find that US-born student did however have less than 1 hour of study time on average as compared to their foreign counterpart. They also had less work hours and more socializing hours. The study found that foreign born students wake up earlier, socialize less, and typically spend more time working. Overall, the study has found that sleep improvement programs targeting a population with diverse cultural backgrounds must factor in behavioral variations in order to have relevance and impact. A weakness of the study is related to it very low sample size and its concentration of white college age students. These observations may skew the overall research results. The advantage of this article is that it looks to provide context related to multicultural students, their behaviors and how it impacts performance. This is a critical element as the study found that foreign-born students do have different behaviors as it relates to socializing, time-management, and overall academic discipline. This in turn, can better impact studies related to methods of improving both sleep habits and overall academic performance.

Influence of Sleeping Patterns in Health and Academic Performance Among University Students

Reference: Toscano-Hermoso, M. D., Arbinaga, F., Fernández-Ozcorta, E. J., Gómez-Salgado, J., & Ruiz-Frutos, C. (2020). Influence of Sleeping Patterns in Health and Academic Performance Among University Students. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(8), 2760. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082760

Overview: This academic article leverages a study of 855 students using the Sleep Quality Index, the Nightmare Frequency Scale, and the Composite Morningness Scale, to determine academic performance of students. From the study, women show a much higher risk of poor sleep quality, a large degree of nightmares, and lower academic performance than men. Women also show a higher risk of sleep disorder according to the study. The study, found that there is a correlation between sleep habits and overall academic performance. A weakness of the study is that it focuses primarily on the Pittsburg market and surrounding areas. As a result, the observations may not be indicative of the overall population of students.

Sleepless: The Developmental Significance of Sleep Quality and Quantity Among Adolescents.

Reference: Vazsonyi, A. T., Liu, D., Javakhishvili, M., Beier, J. J., & Blatny, M. (2021). Sleepless: The developmental significance of sleep quality and quantity among adolescents. Developmental psychology, 57(6), 1018–1024. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001192

Overview: This academic study looks to determine the impact of adolescent sleep quality on overall academic performance later in life. The study focused primarily on Czech adolescents through a combination of logistic regression and other longitudinal studies. That data is statistically significant with nearly 590 observations being controlled for sex, age, family structure, and socioeconomic status within the regression. The academic study found that seep quality during adolescent years has an impact on predicted developmental changes in the years that follow. The study also found a relation of sleep quality towards anxiety and deviance in adolescent children. The study found that sleep quality was much more important than quantity of sleep for adolescent children. Here, the student was able to substantiate the sleep-mood link by adapting it to adolescent study. An advantage of this study is that it heavily focuses on behavioral sleep habits that have been developed over time. The prior students often look at current circumstances but do not account for sleep habits or behaviors that have developed prior to entering college. This study is important as it looks to determine the overall link between sleep habits and behaviors through time, prior to the student reaching college. This is important as it can provide information as to how to pre-emptively improve sleep behaviors in teenagers prior to their acceptance into college.