Education and Sleep

Sleep quality and amount affect particularly sleep and learning, which is consolidated all night long. Sleep quality and amount. If a person is sleep deprived, he/she cannot pay the best attention and learning can be seriously impaired. Sleep is known for consolidation of the memory, which allows learners to concentrate on the information they learn for a prolonged period of time (Potkin & Bunney Jr, 2012). Learning and memory therefore have a significant effect on learning, something that influences memory. Memory has three purposes, including the processing of new knowledge in the brain. Another memory function is consolidation representing the process by which a memory becomes stable while recall function is the ability to access any stored information. Learning requires proper memory functioning and since consolidation of information occur during sleep learners should be encouraged to have good sleeping habits. Research has been carried out on sleep and the role it plays on procedural memory, which entails remembering how to do something such as playing a piano or driving a car. REM sleep facilitates procedural memory while motor learning depends on the amount of the lighter stages of sleep. However, some visual learning depends on the amount and time spent on deep, slow-wave, and REM sleep. Research on sleep and learning has focused on the role sleep plays in learning and memory formation through two approaches that include stages of sleep and sleep deprivation as well as their impact on learning. According to the findings of such research, various sleep stages help to consolidate the different types of memories and its deprivation reduces the ability of individuals to learn (Ashworth, Hill, Karmiloff‐Smith & Dimitriou, 2014). However, a gap exist in establishing the relationship between sleep and concentration of learners in class, their performance, attention, and general function in school. Therefore, having adequate sleep every day is very vital for learning memory. This research analyzes various literatures on the impact of sleep on learning to bridge the gap that exist in the area. Therefore inadequate sleep by students affects their academic performance in school, poor sleeping habits, and general functioning in school and lead to sleep disorders.
Sleeping late is one cause of inadequate sleep for college students in the United States leading to issues such as poor sleeping habits and poor performance. Orzech (2013) explores perceptions of sleep in the United States in relation to student behavior in class. The study involved 51 students in their teenage years that complained of fatigue and associated it with inadequate sleep. Data was collected through questionnaires for the adolescent learners, teachers, and parents. According to the participants, teens that had varying sleeping behaviors suffered from tiredness finding it difficult to accomplish their tasks. Such students also recorded poor performance in school, as their attentiveness was impaired. The teachers and parents found it necessary to prioritize healthy sleep for adolescents since they associated its lack to social disturbance among the learners. The findings revealed that learners who do not acquire enough sleep due to sleeping late or waking very early lead to odd sleeping patterns (Orzech, 2013). For instance, such students were found to sleep at odd hours that contributed to chronic lack of sleep leading to poor academic performance. Inadequate sleep affects health and may lead to poor performance in school and other areas. The results of the study also revealed that parents and teachers did not play a significant role in influencing sleeping behaviors of the learners. The study is important since it establishes a connection between sleep patterns and their relation to health in teenagers. This area has not been greatly explored and the study is very important in supporting importance of adequate sleep for children at various stages of life. The study tries to connect student performance to sleep deprivation and concludes that enough sleep is necessary for learners’ performance.
Sleep is one of the factors that have been associated with student performance in schools due to its relaxation qualities. A quantitative research carried out by Alos, Caranto and David in 2015 concerned factors that impact on student performance with one of them being sleep. They argued that inadequate sleep lead to poor academic performance and noted that learners were always sleepy in class during lessons. When students sleep during learning hours the likelihood of low scores in classroom and extra activities was quite high. A student must concentrate and participate in classroom activities to grab concepts and apply them later. The study involved BSU nurses and focused on personal factors that could be used to determine study habits of many students. The findings of the research showed that sleep impacted greatly to the academic achievement since learners that did not have sleep disturbances reported grades that were significantly higher than learners who constantly dozed in class. According to the study, performance of students depended on how they planned their time for study, sleep, and other activities. Good planning was a great contributor to their performance thus, it is advisable for learners to plan and allocate themselves adequate time for sleep. When one is awake acquisition and recall of information occurs and with quality sleep, one can achieve good grates and knowledge. In addition, low-quality sleep and sleep deprivation have negative impact on peoples’ mood that can have great consequences on learning. Whenever mood changes the ability to learn is affected as one has low ability to acquire new information and remember it. This study is closely related to the research by Oezsek since the two relate inadequate sleep due to poor planning to poor performance by students. They agree that education is undermined by sleep deprivation, as students do not concentrate in class due to fatigue. The two are very important in explaining the relationship between sleep and students’ academic outcomes and determine whether learners can cope with school activities even when under chronic sleep deprivation.
Personal factors such as sleep deprivation are major causes of poor performance in schools. Zeek, Savoie, Song, Kennemur, Qian, Jungnickel, and Westrick, (2015) in their study ’Sleep Duration and Academic Performance among Student Pharmacists’ focus on the effect of sleep on academic achievement. The study shows impact of sleep on mental functioning of human beings especially on academic performance. According to the research, enough sleep should take around 7 hours to help avoid impaired cognitive performance. The brain functions are regulated by the prefrontal cortex, which can be greatly affected poor sleep (Zeek et al., 2015). The study involved student pharmacists as the participants before doing their exam. According to the study, half of them were sleepy during the day and extended the habit during the examination time. This contributed to their poor performance, which reflected on their grades at the end of the semester. Inadequate sleep affected the learners’ memory leading to poor academic achievement. The population consisted of adolescents, teens, and undergraduate learners in exploring the sleep habits especially those taking degrees in the healthcare field. The behavior of the participants deprived of sleep led to the conclusions that sleep patterns affect performance of students in academics. Since there are other factors that can cause students to sleep in class or perform poorly such as sickness, stress, or personal issues, more research should be carried out to help in determining poor performance by learners. Sometimes, several problems may be to blame for low scores and relationship of such factors with sleep and performance need to be established. Just as the studies analyzed above, this research by Zeek and others relate poor performance of students to inadequate sleep. The conclusions for both studies reveal that sleep is very vital due to the impact it has on human memory and body functioning.
According to the research by Meijer (2008), irregular patterns of sleep have great effect on the students’ performance in school. In fact, poor sleep quality, which results from some of learners restricting their hours of sleep make them sleepy during the day. The study involved the relationship existing between sleep patterns for students of both gender and its connection with academic achievement and functioning. Some of the notable consequences of sleep deprivation include energy loss, emotional disturbances, and sleepiness. The researcher utilized structured questionnaires in correcting qualitative data from the participants. It gave reliable results since it provided an opportunity for learners to answer questions, as they deemed appropriate. The researcher measured the level of achievement for every learner using the Cronbach’s scale. The results revealed that sleep patterns had great impact on the functioning of the students, which was related to chronic sleep. The students ended up scoring low marks thus the conclusion that sleep patterns and deprivation affects academic performance is valid. The research also identified the need for students to ensure adequate sleep of about hours for the body and mind to relax. This is necessary for improvement of performance and mental functioning of learners to ensure enough concentration during class time. Adequate sleep is vital since it enables the body to relax and release fatigue improving the functioning. This study is also related to others discussed since its findings are in concurrent with the others supporting adequate sleep to promote wellbeing of students and improve performance.
Gaultney (2010) study investigates the relationship between sleep deprivation and sleep disorders. According to the author chronic disorders common to students include poor sleeping patterns. The study involved 1,845 college students as the participants, which investigated prevalence of sleep disorders based on age and gender. The participants were surveyed and the data collected analyzed for sleep disorder patterns. The results of the study revealed that 2 percent of the learners faced danger of acquiring some disorder patterns. The research findings revealed that learners needed to relax the mind by ensuring enough sleep since it relaxes the mind. A tired mind cannot resolve issues and learners may find it difficult to interpret concepts in various subjects. They need a relaxed mind to remember contents taught earlier. The study concluded that sleep disorders emerge from inadequate sleep as reflected by the sleeping behavior of college students. If learners do not plan their time well to include enough time for sleeping, they are likely to record poor performance. Education is very important and children should realize the need to perform well in academics. The research also revealed that students who did not have enough sleep suffered insomnia and reduced sleeping practices. This worsens the situation as the victim wakes up more tired, stressed, and cannot concentrate on class work. The research reveals a great risk for students since they are likely to develop chronic sleep problems if they do not plan their time well. Deprivation of sleep is a major cause of poor academic performance thus there is need for complete lifestyle change to include sleep in day’s activity plan. This study is connected to the others since it studies behavior of students with sleep deprivation. However, it is focusing on lack of sleep and sleep disorders unlike the others, which focus mainly on impact to student performance. The studies help to understand the importance of sleeping for young people especially students. Teachers and parents have a duty to explain to children about the importance of acquiring adequate sleep and resting to improve physical and psychological health.
Conclusion
It is clear that a good night sleep is necessary for acquisition of new information and remembering it later or when needed. Students have a tendency of staying out late when trying to acquire new information or studying for a test. However, research has shown that for one to have great mental clarity and focus, one must have adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation is dangerous due to its devastating effects on the victims. Dozing in class and lack of concentration are among the notable symptoms of a person who had little time to sleep. Although not all researchers believe that sleeping helps in memory consolidation, studies analyzed above prove that students who do not sleep well have trouble concentrating during the day. In addition, they do not do well in academics and other schools activities. Consequently, there is a great need to advise learners to ensure that they get adequate sleep every day by planning well. For instance, Meijer associates lack of sleep and irregular patterns of sleep by students interfering with their academic and schoolwork. This leads to poor grades thus focusing on good sleep is recommended. Currently little research has been done on the relationship between sleep and learning especially its impact on memory. Many studies have focused on importance of sleep in promoting human health such as psychological well being. This study aims at bridging the knowledge gap that exists by focusing on the impact of inadequate sleep on learning and student performance. The review concludes that learning is impaired by lack of sleep and students must plan their time well to ensure they have enough time to rest. Further research questions that have arisen from this review include whether sleep affects other students’ routines such as sporting activities. There is also need to establish whether learners who sleep excessively show positive or negative impact. This can be established by monitoring the hours spent sleeping by a group of students with the performance. This can help in determining the best length of time humans should sleep to be more productive.

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References
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