Running head: SLEEP AND STUDY TIME

The Effect of Sleep on the Amount of Study Time in Occupational Therapy Students
Natasha Arastehmanesh, Madeline Dunlap, Jared Hansen, Marissa Stendel
Touro University Nevada

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Results

The beginning of our study began on September 16, 2014 when we initially started the
data collection and the process ended on October 8, 2014. We recruited the 2016 cohort of the
School of Occupational Therapy at Touro University Nevada, excluding us, the researchers. The
study had a total of 32 participants. There was one refusal at the beginning of the process, and
there were only five participants that completed the study. We did not implement a control group
and all participants were a part of the treatment group.
There were four males and 21 females that participated in the study, but only five of
those participants completed the study entirely up until day five. For week one, two participants
completed the study all five days. Week two had similar results where four participants
completed the study all five days. For our study, the age range varied from 21-47 years of age
and all were fluent English speakers. The results were entered into Excel according to each
participants assigned number to determine the outcomes of each individuals sleep and study
time (see Table 1 and Table 2). Throughout the process of entering data, we documented if the
participant noted taking any medications, such as Adderall, various birth controls, and melatonin.
In addition, we formulated graphs (see Figure 1) within Excel from the computed statistics to
layout the results of the study. The graphs help to visually demonstrate the correlation of sleep
and study in Occupational Therapy students.
Discussion
Our data does not support our original research hypothesis which states that if a student
sleeps less than their optimal nightly sleep, then study time will decrease compared to students
who get their optimal level of sleep. Due to noncompliance of the participants, we were unable to

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conclude that less sleep will decrease the amount of study time compared to others that may
attain more sleep. From these results, we can determine that further research is needed to
contribute to the broader knowledge of information on sleep and study time in occupational
therapy students. There were many limitations noted in our study which included methods of
communication, the duration of the study, and the size of our sample.
Limitations
One limitation in communicating with the participants was that we chose to email
students everyday reminding them to complete the online questionnaire. A later observation
helped us to determine that this was not an optimal method of collecting data. The online
questionnaire was not as readily available as distributing a paper questionnaire in class where all
participants could fully participate after class. We also discovered that the directions given to the
participants were not clear and concise which unfortunately led to confusion and noncompliance
of the study. Many participants complained about the duration of the study and the fact that they
had to complete the questionnaire on their own time outside of class. We were also limited to 32
students in total, making it difficult to obtain significant results from such a small sample. Lastly,
a significant limitation was the method we used to collect data. The website we utilized, Survey
Monkey, limited us to only 100 responses-something we were unaware of before beginning the
process. After 100 responses were collected we were unable to view the remaining responses
unless we signed up for a membership costing more than $50.00. Unfortunately, there were 15
extra questionnaires that we could not review. This limitation affected our overall results for the
study. In the future, we recommend implementing more participants, having a physical copy of
the questionnaire that can be distributed to the class to allow for simpler data collection and
compliance.

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Implications from this study demonstrate no statistical significance, however our

literature reviews supports our hypothesis on a larger scale. From the background literature, we
can firmly state that sleep time does have an effect on study time. Although our study was not
statistically significant, it is clinically significant in that attaining enough sleep results in optimal
functioning. Overall, if our participants fully engaged in our study, we could possibly conclude a
significant correlation between sleep and study time.

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References

Gilbert, S. P., & Weaver, C. C. (2010). Sleep quality and academic performance in university
students: A wake-up call for college psychologists. Journal of College Student
Psychotherapy, 24(4), 295-306. doi: 10.1080/87568225.2010.509245
Gillen-O'Neel, C., Huynh, V. W., & Fuligni, A. J. (2013). To study or to sleep? The academic
costs of extra studying at the expense of sleep. Child Development, 84(1), 133-142. doi:
10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01834.x
Gomes, A. A., Tavares, J., & de Azevedo, M. H. P. (2011). Sleep and academic performance in
undergraduates: A multi-measure, multi-predictor approach. Chronobiology
International: The Journal of Biological & Medical Rhythm Research, 28(9), 786-801.
doi: 10.3109/07420528.2011.606518
Lemola, S., Rikknen, K., Scheier, M. F., Matthews, K. A., Pesonen, A.-K., Heinonen, K., . . .
Kajantie, E. (2011). Sleep quantity, quality and optimism in children. Journal of Sleep
Research, 20(1 part I), 12-20. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2010.00856.x
Lund, H. G., Reider, B. D., Whiting, A. B., & Prichard, J. R. (2010). Sleep patterns and
predictors of disturbed sleep in a large population of college students. Journal of
Adolescent Health, 46(2), 124-132.

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Tables and Figures

Sleep and Study Time

8
7

Hours

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1

10

Day
Ave. Sleep Time (hrs)

Ave. Study Time (hrs)

Figure 1. Sleep and Study Time

Table 1. Sleep and Study

Week 1

Week 2

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Sleep (hrs)

7.173

7.375

7.54

7.333

5.5

6.708

7.147

7.055

7.166

6.063

Study (hrs)

2.538

2.855

3.41

3.888

3.5

2.979

3.341

3.583

4.916

3.875

Table 2. Statistics

Pearson

-0.089572

T-Test

1.393E-06

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10