Effects of Course Load Demands on Average Amount of Sleep
Student Researcher: Ashley Meekins
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Mudrick
Abstract: Sleep is an important and vital part for optimal functioning. Often, students do not realize that poor sleep habits contribute to health problems and decreased academic performance. Students have extremely busy schedules where they must correctly manage their time to be able to balance attending classes, studying and completing work, socializing, exercising, and more. This does not leave a lot of time for students to sleep or relax. Sleep may be voluntarily sacrificed due to social factors, or involuntarily reduced due to environmental factors such as noise in a residence hall. It is important to ensure that the quality of sleep is received, rather than quantity. In all, there was no significant difference between strength of a course load and the amount of sleep a student receives on weeknights. With effective time management, students are able to balance their normal lives and have healthy sleep schedules.