“In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind,
jinns and all that exists).

1
“EFFECT OF SLEEP DURATION ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE”

A thesis submitted by

SHEERAZ AMAN (CE-066)

Supervisor:
Dr. Raza Ali Khan

Department of Civil Engineering

NED University of Engineering & Technology

August 24th, 2022

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 CERTIFICATE

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

This is to certify that the work presented in this thesis topic “Effect of sleep duration on
academic performance” submitted for the subject ‘Quantitative tools for Engineering
Management’ in Master of Engineering Management (Construction Management) has been
undertaken and completed by the following student under the supervision of Dr. Raza Ali
Khan.

Sheeraz Aman (CE-066)

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 DEDICATION

This research study is dedicated to my beloved parents, who have been my

source morally, spiritually, and financially.

This research study is also dedicated to all my teachers for their guidance,
motivation, and continuous support for accomplishing my goals and
straightening out my path.

Insha’Allah I will do my best to achieve desired goals in my life and certainly

will be a reason that my parents and teachers may be proud of inspiration and
always gave me strength and motivation and supported me

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, Praise is to Almighty ALLAH on whom we depend for guidance. I
would like to thank Almighty Allah for giving me the opportunity, determination, and
strength to complete this research work.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my Supervisor, Dr. Raza Ali Khan, for the
continuous support throughout the course and research, for his patience, motivation,
enthusiasm, and great knowledge.

I would also like to express my gratitude to my colleagues and friends for discussions and
suggestions for completing this thesis.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................... 11
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 GENERAL:................................................................................................................1

1.2 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES:...........................................................2

LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................... 4
METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................................25

3.1 OVERVIEW:.......................................................................................................... 25
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION...................................................................................... 26

4.1 INTODUCTION:...................................................................................................26

4.2 RAW DATA TABLE:..........................................................................................26

4.3 PIE CHARTS:.........................................................................................................28

4.4 SCATTER DIAGRAM:.......................................................................................30

4.5 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDANCIES AND DISPERSIONS:....30

4.6 RESULTS:...............................................................................................................30
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................33
References:............................................................................................................................. 34

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 ABSTRACT
Recent findings have shown that sleep plays an important role in learning processes and
memory consolidation for students of all ages. These students clearly display that sleep
deprivation in students can impair learning and memory, affecting academic performance. It
was noted that students who exhibited more regular sleep-wake patterns, represented by earlier
sleep times, fewer late awakenings and earlier rise times on weekends reported higher mean
GPAs. Conversely students with lower grades reported increased daytime sleepiness, more
frequent night-waking and longer times to fall asleep.
I decided to conduct and investigate the correlation among sleep and GPA further.

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 CHAPTER NO. 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL:

Grade Point Average (GPA) is a highly important contributing factor in the future of a
student’s career. However, it seems that students tend to be struggling to maintain an
average of 3.0. Presently there are copious debatable factors that can possibly
contribute to the decline of a student’s grade point average. Sleep may be a significant
one. I have personally found that when I lack to attain eight full hours of rest before a
test or lecture that my concentration is severely compromised. Consequently, I
decided to conduct and investigate the hidden correlation among sleep and G.P.A.
further. Using a survey targeted to the population of students within NED University
of Engineering and Technology. I made sure to include questions to determine sleep
and G.P.A. patterns. Thus consequently, bearing evidence to prove that pupils who
attain an average of 6-10 hours of sleep or more per night have a higher G.P.A. of 3.0
or above and have a higher concentration level.

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 1.2 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES:

The aim of this research is to describe the effects of sleep deprivation on academic
performance.
The objectives of my thesis are:
 Collect the data regarding the hours of sleep taken and the GPA scored in exams
by the students at NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi.
 To present the data with the help of tables and pie charts.
 To analyze the data and determine the effect of sleep patterns on GPA of
students.

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 CHAPTER NO. 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

Nihayah, M., Ismarulyusda I., Syarif, H.L., Nur Zakiah, M.S.,Baharudin, O., Fadzil,
M.H., (2010) This study was carried out to determine the sleeping hours and their effect on
the academic achievements among year 2 and year 3 Biomedical Science students of Faculty
of Allied Health Sciences, University Kebangsaan Malaysia for the session 2009/2010. The
study was based on 104 subjects in which close-ended questionnaires were used. It was clear
from the result that there was no association (p>0.05) between the hours slept for and
academic result (CGPA). There was also no association between the level of stress and
obtained CGPA (p > 0.05) and between the skill of studying and CGPA (p>0.05). The Mann-
Whitney test was used and there was no significant median difference seen in CGPA
according to year of study (p>0.05). But there was a significant (p<0.05) median difference
in CGPA according to gender. The male CGPA was found to be higher than females. In
conclusion, this report showed that sleeping hours did not affect students’ academic
achievements CGPA. However, CGPA differs among gender with male of 3.52 and female
of 3.27. Most student pharmacists had suboptimal durations of sleep, defined as fewer than 7
hours. It was concluded that adequate sleep the night prior to an examination was positively
associated with student course grades and semester GPAs.

Tammy L. Hampton, (2005) The purpose of this study was to research the effects that sleep
has on a college student's academic performance, measured by the student's self-reported
grade point average (GPA), and to examine whether there is a difference between graduate
students and undergraduate student's results. 136 students at Rowan University in southern
New Jersey, 61 graduate students and 75 undergraduate students, were asked to complete a
short survey on their sleep habits, demographic information, self-reported GPA, and average
number of hours of sleep per night that they received. An independent Two-Way ANOVA
was then performed to analyze the information indicating the following results. With a high
significance the number of hours of sleep that a college student receives does have effect on
their GPA. It was found that the more sleep that the student receives, the higher their GPA
will be. There was also a high significance showing that graduate students reported a higher
average GPA than did undergraduate students. However, the average amount of sleep
received per night was the same between both sets of students and the researcher found no
significance with the interaction of class level and sleep on GPA.

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Maureen Cort-Blackson, (2018) This phenomenological study examined the lived
experiences of online university students regarding sleep patterns, sleep deprivation, and the
impact on their academic performance. The theoretical foundation for this study was based
on the opponent processing model that explains the 2 fundamental processes necessary for
individuals to function at their optimum ability: the sleep-wake homeostatic process and the
circadian rhythm processes. The research question explored the beliefs and perceptions of 10
online university students, while the sub questions focused on how distractions, social media,
family, and work-related duties affected their sleep patterns. Purposeful sampling was used
to recruit the participants who were current online university students, with a full-time job, a
family and family responsibilities. Data were analyzed through pattern coding and structural
analysis. Four themes emerged from the analysis of the data: the effects of sleep deprivation,
adjustment to daily lives, factors affecting sleep deprivation, and impressions of online
education. Results demonstrated that sleep deprivation causes tiredness, sluggish thinking,
and cranky responses. Positive social change can be achieved if the 10 participants
participate in building a community of online university students who will maintain an
alumni base that can foster mentoring and empowering others to decrease sleep deprivation
that helps in maintaining good academic standards.

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 CHAPTER NO. 3
METHODOLOGY

3.1 OVERVIEW:

My data was collected by a random optional survey given to my fellow student peers from
NED University of Engineering and Technology. Students were asked questions regarding
study and concentration. Students were asked to describe how many hours they spend
studying each week, what is their concentration level on tests and exams after a full night of
sleep on a scale of 1-5, and to determine on a scale of 1-5 their concentration level when
you are tired or exhausted. A total of 30 students participated in this survey After collecting
the data, I moved on to analyze the whole data to get the answer to the query, that was,
whether the amount of sleep offered by a student has a direct effect on their academic
performance. And if yes, how much?

A.) Descriptive Data Analysis: Pie-charts was used to describe the amount of sleep
students received each night, average grade point average, as well as their
concentration based on sleep received each night. The charts revealed that 80 percent
had a higher concentration level of 4-5 after receiving a full night’s sleep, 83 percent
sleep an average of 6-10 hours each night, and .90 percent has a grade point average of
3.0 or higher.

B.) Test Analysis (Inferential Statistics): The variables under analysis were the
average sleep and grade point average of students respectively. The hypothesis that
students who receive an average sleep of 6-10 hours each night will maintain a higher
GPA of 3.0 or greater, in comparison to students who sleep on average of 1-5 hours
each night who will have a less than a 3.0. I used proportion analysis via stat crunch to
analyze the two variables. These tests were done at a 0.05 significance level to attain a
p value of .4475, where the hypothesis was stated as it is described below.

P1(Students who receive an average of 6-10 hours of sleep each night)

P2(Students who have a Grade Point Average of 3.0 or higher)

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 CHAPTER NO. 04
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 INTODUCTION:
Upon analyzing both cases, a p-values less than 0.05, as obtained which showed that the
difference in sleep as well as GPA for the two groups of students were different.

4.2 RAW DATA TABLE:

Student No. Hours GPA Concentration

of Sleep

1 7 3.8 4

2 8 4 3

3 8 3.95 4

4 4 3.6 5

5 9 3.5 3

6 7 3 3

7 5 3.61 3

8 6 3.5 4

9 5 3.6 4

10 7 3 3

11 5 3 3

12 6 3.5 4

13 6 3.6 1

14 6 3 4

15 7 2.8 3

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16 6 3 4

17 6 3.2 3

18 8 2.75 5

19 7 4 4

20 7 3.2 3

21 6 3 3

22 5 3.7 3

23 8 3.987 2

24 7 3.25 3

25 6 3.8 3

26 6 3.7 4

27 6 2.5 4

28 6 3.01 5

29 9 3 4

30 7 3.5 5

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4.3 PIE CHARTS:

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9
 4.4 SCATTER DIAGRAM:

SCATTER DIAGRAM
Sleep and GPA
4.5

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4.5 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDANCIES AND DISPERSIONS:

Column n Mean Variance Std. Dev. Std. Err. Range Median Q1 Q3

Sleep 30 6.5333333 1.429885 1.195778 0.2183182 5 6 6 7
GPA 30 3.3685668 0.17271128 0.4155855 0.07587518 1.5 3.5 3 3.7

4.6 RESULTS:

Two sample Proportion with summary

Hypothesis test results:

p1: proportion of successes for population 1

p2: proportion of successes for population 2
p1 - p2: difference in proportions

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H0: p1 - p2 = 0
HA: p1 - p2 ≠ 0

Difference Count1 Total1 Count2 Total2 Sample Diff. Std. Error Z-Stat P-value

p1 - p2 25 30 27 30 -0.06666667 0.087770745 -0.7595545 0.4475

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 CHAPTER NO. 05
CONCLUSION

Students who maintain an average of 6-10 hours of sleep per night do maintain a higher GPA of 3.0 or
better. The higher p-values of 0.4475 (p >0.05) from the proportion test results supported the null
hypothesis which clearly indicated that there was reason to believe that the average GPA and
concentration of students of NED university have no significance. The difference can be attributed to
the effect of loss of sleep affecting the concentration level of the pupils.

Given the solidity of my data collection and the nature of the distribution, students from NED university
should think twice before negating sleep while in college, because the practice leads to a lower grade
point average.

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