Sleepless in
Heritage High School
ResMed X Scientella
Student Consulting Project
Speakers: Naina Middela, Nethra Middela, Somya Shah, & Kruthi Bhogaraju
Introduction
01
Data Collection
02
Synthesis
03
Recommendations
04
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Project Background and Student Team
Project Background
How does sleep affect Heritage High School students? In this student consulting project for ResMed, a team of eight Steministas at the Heritage High School chapter are exploring the underlying factors that cause a lack of sleep and how it affects our high schooler’s daily life.
Our team, STEM. Sleep. Repeat! has gathered the data, analysed the information, and now present solutions to the overall sleep quality at our school.
In our survey, we asked “What are the popular opinions and impact of sleep on HHS students?”
In our analysis, we answered “What can we do to address the sleep quality at our school?”
Student Team: Project Managers
Nethra Middela
Naina Middela
I am a senior with a deep passion for Artificial Intelligence and future technologies. When I am not coding, I enjoy writing songs, Kuchipudi dancing, and food photography!
I am a senior and an aspiring AI researcher with a concentration on sustainability. Talk to me about books, music, and video editing. I am a creative artist!
Student Team
Somya Shah
Kruthi Bhogaraju
Gaby Servigna
I am a senior at Heritage High School
I am a junior and am pursuing Obstetrics and Gynecology. I enjoy reading books, K-dramas, listening to music, and drawing!
I am a freshman interested in pursuing Materials and Mechanical Engineering, as well as Music. I like to learn about Ancient Civilizations, Space, and play music!
Student Team
Sana Qureshi
Sameen Qureshi
Sai Movva
I am a junior and have great interest in the field of psychology. In my free time I like to read and cook.
I am a junior in high school. I have an interest pursuing architecture. I enjoy watching movies and TV shows in my free time!
I am a junior as well as an aspiring healthcare data scientist. Along with being fascinated by computer science and the healthcare field, I enjoy reading, writing and watching criminal fiction!
2. Data Collection
Online Research and Survey Summaries
Key Terms - Part 1
Key Terms - Part 2
Key Terms - Part 3
Survey Summary - Demographics
Female
Heritage High School
Gender
Grade Level
Additional Info
88.9%
Male
11.1%
Age
Between 14 - 18
9th
15.6%
10th
17.8%
11th
28.9%
12th
37.8%
45 Total Responses
Sleep Quantity
Sleep Quality
Sleep Awareness
Sleep Improvement
Survey Summary - Sleep Quality
Survey Summary - Weekday Sleep Quantity
Survey Summary - Weekend Sleep Quantity
Survey Summary - Sleep Satisfaction
Survey Summary - Health/Life Aspects
3. Synthesis
Online Research and Survey Summaries
Key Takeaway #1
Weekdays Vs Weekends
According to our survey, on weekdays only 13.3% of students aim for the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep. However, on weekends 70% of students aim for the recommended 8-10 hours. As per our survey, we can infer that the reason students are aiming for less than the recommended sleep time on weekdays is due to school work and the possible stress it can cause.
Key Takeaway #2
Sleep Quantity vs Sleep Quality
According to our survey, when more people got more sleep on the weekends, as said previously, more people had better sleep quality. On the weekdays it showed that only 40% of participants had good or very good quality sleep while on the weekends this number shot up to 88.9%. This indicates that there may be a positive correlation between the quantity of sleep and quality of sleep.
Key Takeaway #3
Perceived Importance vs Importance Given
82.2% of the respondents thought that sleep was pretty important, however, 73.3% are somewhat or not at all satisfied with their sleep quality. This shows that Heritage students know the importance of sleep in their lives, and based on our results, they want to maintain good sleep quality, but most of the population is still unsatisfied with their sleep quality. Heritage students see sleep as important, but unfortunately aren’t sleeping well.
4. Recommendations
Problems and Solutions
Problem #1
Distractions and Stress
External and internal distractions are large factors that cause lack of sleep in teens. One of these factors are stress and pressure to perform well in school and other aspects in life. Teens who reported high stress levels during the past school year were more likely to report trouble with sleeping. According our survey 46.7% of teens reported taking around 20+ minutes to sleep when and some even taking more than 30+ minutes. It is proven the longer you take to go the sleep, your sleep efficiency drops.
Solution #1
Meditation & Self Care
One solution for the issue to aid teens in getting a better quality of sleep could be to try to remove distractions like stress and pressure before going to sleep could be teaching teens how to balance their work and not overwhelm themselves as it leads to lack of sleep, also encourage teens to do self regulating activities to take their mind of the stress. For example meditation. Meditation can relax your brain and body and can quit distracting thoughts. Studies have proved that meditation can reduce curestirol (stress hormones). Meditation also increases melatonin level that can help teens pursue a better quality of sleep.
Problem #2
Electronic Devices
According to our survey, 73.3% of our respondents were somewhat or not at all satisfied with their sleep quantity quality and quantity. Few teens mentioned that going on their phone helps them sleep, while many more recognized that keeping phones away was a better option. We believe that due to distractions or even school work students find it hard to put down their electronic devices and focus on sleep, thus many being unsatisfied with their current sleep quality. There is also research that shows that the blue light emitted from devices reduce the production of melatonin, a hormone that makes one feel sleepy, causing one to feel less sleepy and fall asleep later (Pacheo). We concluded that even though for some teens devices may aid them in falling asleep more easily, generally staying away from them lead students to better sleep quantity and quality.
Solution #2
Create a Sleep Routine (Self-Control)
A possible to solution to help with sleep is to create a sleep routine/schedule that can be used everyday through discipline and self-control. It is common for students to be assigned various amounts of homework from each of their classes, so by using a calendar or schedule app, a person can create a work schedule that fits their day-to-day routine and allows them to have more sleep. They can see on average, the estimated time that they get home during the week. Then, by using that information, the person could use the scheduling app to the create an appropriate schedule, distributing their homework, assignments, and other activities efficiently, making it so that the person is left with more time to rest and sleep. Along with that it there should be something done to keep students from looking at their screen, at least for their phones. For example, pressing the locking of phones after a certain time to ensure better quality of sleep.
Problem #3
Academic Pressures
When ranked in importance of these aspects of your health - sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress management - stress management was ranked the highest in importance by the most students (18/45 or 40%). We concluded that the emphasis on stress management may be correlated with the academic pressures of needing to to achieve higher scores in school and wanting to complete large loads of homework under time crunches. Higher significance to academic pressures also means that students may be devoting more of their time to studying than sleeping, causing problems with sleep habits and quality of sleep.
*Emphasis on green columns - ranked 1: least important, 4 = most important
Solution #3
Planning Ahead
As pressures from academics pile up, though many find stress management to be important, it may be a struggle to manage everything. Educating and aiding students to find a way that works to best to manage all the stress may be just what we need to. Some students find that planning out their week and dividing up work they need to is beneficial, while others find other ways to be more beneficial. Another solution maybe to work on habits that lead to stress, a major one being procrastination. Finding ways for students to not wait for the last minuets for assignments will improve their stress levels. Each student has their own method and providing a way for them to find their way to tackle stress will definitely lead to better sleep in high school students.
Thank you
Heritage High School, STEM. Sleep. Repeat!
Instagram: @coyote_scientella
Remind: @CoyoteSci22
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Work Cited
"Can Electronics Affect Quality Sleep? | Sleep Foundation". Sleepfoundation.Org, 2017, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-electronics-affect-sleep#:~:text=Certain%20types%20of%20household%20lighting,also%20cause%20retina%20damage7. Accessed 1 Dec 2022.