The Future of Education
The Effects of Sleep Schedules on Brain Functions correlated with the High School Students’ Academic Success and Social Skills
Ayşe Yalçın, Hisar School (Turkey)
Selin Pir, Hisar School (Turkey)
Abstract
Sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation (enabling us to recall what we've learned), which is crucial for academic achievement. Sleep deprivation has been related to impaired attention and cognition, in addition to the effects of sleep on memory consolidation. In addition, with increasing anxiety levels and stress levels due to lack of sleep, students face major issues with their social skills. As High School students engage in academic activities, their sleep schedule may be disrupted which leads to a lack of sufficient brain activity for what they perform within their daily lives, as experienced first hand by us. In March of 2022, a survey was sent to the Hisar School High School students ages between 14-18, to focus on the main idea that sleep schedules and external factors such as caffeine affect the brain functions of the students. The descriptive results of this survey can be found at: The study focuses on these responses collected from 80 students. The definition of “Academic success” in the context of this research refers to a higher Grade Point Average. As the results suggest, the majority of High School students in the average Advanced Placement School in Istanbul gets 3-6 hours of sleep each night, and 70% of those have fallen asleep in class, which ultimately affects their performance. Many students, as more than half suffer anxiety, have trouble falling asleep and consume caffeine to aid the process of staying awake. While these methods may keep students awake, it damages their brain functions. Short term success may be achieved but the long term effects are not avoided.
Keywords Schedule, High School, Teenagers, Academic Success, Social Skills
References
[1]Mehta, K.J. Effect of sleep and mood on academic performance—at interface of physiology, psychology, and education. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9, 16 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-01031-1
[2]Zeek, Megan L et al. “Sleep Duration and Academic Performance Among Student Pharmacists.” American journal of pharmaceutical education vol. 79,5 (2015): 63. doi:10.5688/ajpe79563
[3]https://docs.google.com/document/d/12545Omr_M48n0ICdKpuuEUdUYbSFhay_mWxME2qg0uA/edit?usp=sharing
