SLEEP DEPRIVATION AMONG DEGREE STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITI

TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM) SHAH ALAM

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Lack of sleep among students are now considered as common problems and it is the root of
many hazardous effects, such as poor academic performances, physical malfunction,
decreasing social activities and many more. Sleep deprivation is common amongst university
students whom live in a culture that promotes reduced sleep, due to the burden of academic
work and social pursuits. The reasons for poor sleep hygiene include alcohol and caffeine
intake, stimulants, and technology, which prevent students achieving sufficient sleep time and
quality (Yusuf Patrick, Alice Lee and Oishik Raha, 2017).

As the key to unlock future careers and endeavors, university is such a vital phase for every
student and it is crucial for them to know its importance. However, sleep deprivations are
among few obstacles that stands in the way of students trying to do one thing they needed the
most: studying. As stated in Wikipedia, sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough
sleep. It can be either chronic or acute and the levels of sleep deprivation can vary widely. If
sleep deprivations continue to be taken lightly, its aftermath can affect students’ way of
studying in the long term, for example, fatigue, daytime sleepiness, confusing sleeping patterns,
weight loss/gain. The worst effect is sleep deprivations negate their abilities to perform
cognitive tasks, impacts their mood and more likely to forget things and be irritable when tired
(Kasi S, 2015).

Looking back at past researches has proven that sleep loss alters normal functioning of attention
and disrupts the ability to focus on environmental sensory input. This has been implicated as
playing a significant role in tragic accidents involving automobiles (Kathleen Davis, 2018).
Some students, instead of fixing their sleeping patterns, decided to take prescriptions to counter
sleep deprivations. This, however, tends to be similar to pouring fuel to fires. At the best,
prescriptions are a temporary first aid kit. On the other hand, they’re an addictive fuel to fire
up sleep deprivations in the long run. As students, adequate sleep is important for good health,
and good health leads to better academic performances, social activities and many more.

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2.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Sleep deprivation is common among university students, and has been associated with poor
academic performance and physical dysfunction (Yusof Patrick and associates, 2017). To cope
with their academic life, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam students must obtain
a good amount of sleep. Sleep deprivation and sleepiness are caused by a host of reasons and
have numerous negative consequences. In the literature, sleep deprivation is often termed either
acute sleep deprivation or chronic partial sleep deprivation. Colloquially for students, acute
sleep deprivation is termed “pulling an all-nighter”, meaning that a person stays up for 24 hours
or longer. Daytime sleepiness, sleep deprivation, and irregular sleep schedules are highly
prevalent among college students, as 50% report daytime sleepiness and 70% attain insufficient
sleep. The consequences of sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness are especially problematic
to college students and can result in lower grade point averages, increased risk of academic
failure, compromised learning, impaired mood, and increased risk of motor vehicle accidents.
(Shelley D Hershner and Ronald D Chervin, 2014). The best way to maximize performance on
final exams is to both study and get a good night of sleep. Many college students are sleep
deprived because they go to sleep late and wake up for classes or employment before adequate
sleep is obtained. (Shelley D Hershner and Ronald D Chervin, 2014). Furthermore, the reasons
for these changes in sleeping patterns are increased part-time working hours, pulling all-
nighters to finish a paper or cram for an exam, and watching television at bedtime.

 What are the reasons that students experiencing sleep deprivation?

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3.0 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to investigate the sleep deprivation among the student in UiTM
Shah Alam. This study suggests several research objectives to be attained as follow:

(a) To determine the students’ duration of sleep

(b) To investigate the causes of sleep deprivation among the students.

(c) To identify the effect of sleep deprivation.

4.0 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY

The finding of the study will benefit the various educators of university level to be aware of
students’ sleep deprivation. They will get information on student’ duration of sleep and the
causes of this lacking of sleep. This study also will investigate if sleep deprivation causing
students to be less participate and less excel in their studies. This is also beneficial to the
students so that it can give them awareness to have proper amount of sleep and what causes
and effects of sleep deprivation so they can improve themselves and try to excel in their study.

5.0 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

There is several limitation that will arise in order to obtain the results in this study. Firstly, the
sample of this study may not generalize the whole UiTM students. The result obtained will
come from 50 randomly selected student in various faculty throughout UiTM Shah Alam.
Besides that, variation of faculty and amount of workload the carry out throughout the day may
be subjective way to measure productivity. Next, some of this student may not really aware
that they didn’t have enough sleep because they have slept in the afternoon or evening. Some
of them does that, usually in the lunch break or solat break just to recharge their energy, just to
be prepare to burn the midnight oil; to finish their assignments and projects or even working
part time.

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6.0 PREVIOUS STUDIES

Eric J. Olson, M.D. (2015) states that lack of sleep can affect the immune system. Studies show
that people who don't get quality sleep or enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being
exposed to a virus, such as a common cold virus. Lack of sleep can also affect how fast humans
recover if they do get sick. Then a new study finds that skipping sleep can drastically lower
testosterone levels in healthy guys in as little as one week. Eve Van Cauter, PhD, (2017) has
said that low testosterone levels are associated with reduced well-being and vigour, which may
also occur as a consequence of sleep loss.

Another case in Las Vegas shows lack of sleep may cause the storage capacity of hippocampus
to fill up, preventing new information from being stored. When memorising a set of pictures,
sleep deprived participants showed less activation in the hippocampus compared to rested
participants. Jakke Tamminen (2016) has defined this deficit in the hippocampus could be
caused by sleep deprivation reducing its ability to write in new information.

Jeffrey Iliff (2016) in his studies has explained that the brain appears to clear out toxins linked
to Alzheimer's during sleep. And at least among research animals that don't get enough solid
shut-eye, those toxins can build up and damage the brain. In the same studies, Bill Rooney
(2016) also finds that the young people has high possibilities to Alzheimer's during sleep
compared the old people.

Dr Simon Kyle (2018) in his findings of the Great British Sleep Survey tell us that 68% of poor
sleepers surveyed were bothered by thoughts about how they would cope the next day. He
states people do not need to repay sleep loss on an hour-for-hour basis. The best evidence from
experimental studies of sleep deprivation suggests that people need to make up less than one-
third of their lost hours. Furthermore, the sleep they get on recovery nights may be deeper and
more restorative.

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7.0 METHODOLOGY

This study will be conducted at UiTM Shah Alam. The subjects of this study will be 50 students
taking Degree in Civil Engineering, Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Degree in Chemical
Engineering and Degree in Electrical Engineering courses at the University. In this study, the
students’ scores the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) will be used to examine their levels of
daytime sleepiness (June C.Lo and her associates, 2016). The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS)
is a self-administered questionnaire that quantifies daytime sleepiness with higher scores
indicating increased daytime hypersomnolence (Suhani Patel and her associates, 2018). The
ESS is a short easy to administer questionnaire that subjectively measures sleepiness in
ordinary life situations. Users rate their chances of sleeping in eight situations on a 4-point
scale with a minimum score of 4 and maximum of 24. Normal score range between 0 and 10.
Score above 10 require further medical assessment (Barile Donch, 2015). This instrument were
design to measure the levels of daytime sleepiness experienced by the students. The collected
data from ESS will be analysed using the Statistics Package for Social Science (SPSS) software
to obtain descriptive statistics. This study will be conducted between September 2018 to
December 2018.

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 REFERENCES

Barile Donch (2016). Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Retrieved from

Bari Lieberman (2017).Lack of Sleep Can Lower Testosterone. Retrieved from

Dr Simon Kyle (2018). Lack of sleep effects. Retrieved from

Eric J. Olson, M.D. (2015). Lack of sleep: Can it make you sick? Retrieved from
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/expert-answers/lack-of-sleep/faq-
20057757

Jakke Tamminen (2016). How a lack of sleep affects your brain – and personality.
Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/how-a-lack-of-sleep-affects-your-brain-
and-personality-66604

June C.Lo, Ju Lynn Ong, Ruth L.F. Leong, Joshua J.Gooley and Micheal W.L. Chee (2016).
Cognitive Performance, Sleepiness, and Mood in Partially Sleep Deprived Adolescents: The
Need for Sleep Study. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.5552

Jon Hamilton (2016). Lack Of Deep Sleep May Set The Stage For Alzheimer's.
Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2016/01/04/460620606/lack-of-deep-sleep-may-set-the-stage-for-alzheimers

Kasi S (2015). Sleep Deprivation in College Students. Retrieved from

Kathleen Davis (2018). What's to know about sleep deprivation? Retrieved from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307334.php

Shelley D Hershner and Ronald D Chervin, (2014), Causes and consequences of sleepiness
among college students, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4075951/

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Suhani Patel, Samantha S.C. Kon, Claire M. Nolan, Ruth E. Baker, Anita K. Simonds, Mary
J. Morrell and William D.C. Man (2018). The Epworth Sleepiness Scale: Minimum Clinically
Important Difference in Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Retrieved form
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Yusuf Patrick, Alice Lee, Oishik Raha, Kavya Pillai, Shubham Gupta, Sonika Sethi, Felicite
Mukeshimana, Lothaire Gerard, Mohammad U. Moghal, Sohag N. Saleh,Susan F. Smith,
Mary J. Morrell, and James (2017), Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive and physical
performance in university students.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5489575/#ui-ncbiinpagenav-heading-3