The Effects of Sleep Deficiency on Student

Athletes
Meredith Arterburn
Independent Research II G/T
10 May 2019

Advisor: Dr. Laura Barger

Instructor: E. Leila Chawkat
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Abstract

This paper will discuss the academic and athletic effects of sleep deprivation on student

athletes. The background of sleep and the effects of sleep deficiency on both students and

athletes separately are essential to investigating how sleep deprivation affects student athletes.

The data collection, which consisted of a survey distributed to high school students, suggests that

students believe that some of the main effects of sleep deficiency include less focus, more

emotional instability, and worse academic performance.

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………….…………..Page 2

Review of Literature………………………….……….Page 2

Research Methods and Data Collection…………….…Page 7

Results and Data Analysis………………....………….Page 7

Discussion and Conclusion……………....…………..Page 13

References…………………..……………..………....Page 15
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Introduction

Based on the fact that everyone sleeps, one would expect there to be more knowledge on

the topic. However, sleep is one of the hardest topics to study solely because the subject is

unconscious while it occurs (C. Czeisler, 2019). This leaves only outsiders to study the subject,

which can make it difficult to determine what happens in the body without altering the sleeping

state. However, in recent decades there have been major advances in the sleep study field. There

remain many mysteries of the exact causes of sleep, but there is a much larger scope of

knowledge on the effects of sleep deficiency. Student athletes are especially prone to sleep

deficiency due to more time commitments and experience the effects of a lack of sleep on both

major aspects of their life, academics and athletics. While student athletes may struggle to get

enough sleep, a lack of sleep leads to a decrease in athletic and academic performance, causing

both short-term emotional and physical disadvantages as well as long-term developmental and

physical drawbacks. Students athletes should increase their amount of sleep to improve athletic

and academic potential. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader on the basics of sleep

and its effects on academics and athletics, as well as reinforce the suggestion that student athletes

increase their amount of sleep.

Review of Literature

I. Basics of sleep

There are 4 stages of sleep, three being non-REM and one REM. REM stands for Rapid

Eye Movement. The first stage of sleep is the transition that a person makes from awake to

asleep. The “heartbeat, breathing, and eye movements slow” during this stage (“Brain Basics:

Understanding Sleep”, 2018). Stage two of sleep is the longest stage, where the body lowers its

temperature. There is no eye movement during this stage. The deepest sleep, lowest heart rate
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and lowest breathing rate occur during stage three. Rapid Eye Movement sleep is the last stage.

During REM sleep, in addition to the eye movement, heart rate and breathing increase again

from their lowest levels during stage three (“Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep”, 2018).

Sleep is controlled by circadian rhythms and sleep drive (“The Science of Sleep:

Understanding What Happens When You Sleep”). A circadian rhythm is the body’s 24-hour

internal clock that regulates hormones and all other physical and behavioral variables based on

the time of the day, such as wakefulness during the day. Circadian rhythms are also affected by

light intake. Sleep drive is the body’s natural desire for sleep that increases as the day progresses,

meaning that the longer a person is awake, the more sleepy he/she becomes. Both regulate the

body’s sleep cycle (“The Science of Sleep: Understanding What Happens When You Sleep”).

During sleep, the brain cleanses itself. Specifically, spinal fluid cycles through the

nervous system. Brain cells shrink, which allows for the spinal fluid to more easily flow. The

spinal fluid removes the brain of toxins, including “harmful waste proteins that build up between

brain cells during waking hours” (Hamilton, 2013). This cleansing process occurs during sleep

because of the amount of energy it takes. Scientists seem to think that this process is one of the

major reasons for sleep (Hamilton, 2013). These basics of sleep provide the information needed

to investigate sleep deficiency and student athletes more specifically.

II. Sleep deficiency and academics

A lack of sleep has profound effects on the capabilities of students, mentally, physically,

and academically. One study cites that “college students who slept more than nine hours a night

had higher grade-point averages than those sleeping less than six hours (3.2 GPA vs. 2.7)”

(Scarpello, 2010). One likely contribution to a correlation between lower grade-point averages

and less sleep is that the brain processes the information taken in from the past day during sleep
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(Kowalski, 2015). In addition, “effects of sleep deprivation include tardiness, falling asleep in

class, lethargy, moodiness, irritability, anxiety” and can make it more difficult for students to

focus (Scarpello, 2010). Less sleep can “curb the brain's processing of emotions from the

previous day” and increases teens’ risk of getting sick (Kowalski, 2015). The combination of

these factors make sleep-deficient students at a severe disadvantage. Additionally, although the

National Sleep Foundation recommends that college students sleep 8.5-9.5 hours per night for

maximum functioning, a study of 105 undergraduate college students determined that just over

half (51%) of the undergraduate students reported sleeping seven or fewer hours per night.

(Carter et. al., 2016).

III. Sleep deficiency and athletics

There have been a multitude of studies conducted to specify the effects that sleep has on

athletics as well as those that athletics have on sleep. One study focused on differences between

three different sports and their effects on sleep. It concluded that Australian rules football players

had more sleep disturbances than rugby or soccer players because of football having the highest

training level. Therefore, not only does sleep deficiency affect athletics, but athletics can also

have a major impact on sleep quality (Miller et. al., 2017). In turn, an unhealthy cycle can be

created between having sleep deficiency because of time commitments and having worse sleep

quality due to intense athletics. Another study revealed that although sleep “is believed to be the

single best recovery strategy available to athletes,” two contributors to poor sleep include

excessive training load and training schedule (Lastella et. al., 2018). Sleep studies can also be

utilized to indicate if an athlete is being overreached or overtrained (Lastella et. al., 2018).

Experts say that practitioners should use “implications of training timing on sleep duration and

fatigue levels” when organizing training, both because it can affect the amount of sleep (Lastella
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et. al., 2018) and the circadian rhythms (42 Analytics, 2014). Sleep doctor Charles Czeisler says

that it is best to not alter circadian rhythms when traveling for athletics, as it will alter the

athletes’ sleep schedules and lead to a loss of sleep. Therefore, the timing of training should stay

on the home time zone schedule to minimize alterations in circadian rhythms (42 Analytics,

2014).

In addition to those relations between sleep and athletics, there are more direct effects as

well. One study revealed that “athletes with poor sleep quality reported higher scores for

confusion [and higher tension] compared to athletes with good sleep quality” (Andrade et. al.,

2016). Both can affect athletics profoundly. Confusion makes it more difficult for athletes to

follow the game at a fast-paced level of play. Higher tension “will easily cause an athlete to

choke under the perceived impact of impending competition or during a critical part of the

competition” (Bali, 2015). Competition is a vital part of athletics, and choking under higher

tension due to less sleep has the ability to severely impact the quality of an athlete’s play.

One sleep study that was extremely influential in the athletics field was conducted at

Stanford University. To begin the study, the athletes had a two-week period of maintaining their

normal sleep habits. After that baseline, the athletes each went 5-7 weeks with getting as much

sleep as possible, optimally being over 10 hours per night. Each day, the researchers recorded a

timed sprint and shooting accuracy. They also measured reaction time, daytime sleepiness, and

mood with various tools and compared the data from before and after the increased sleep time.

With more sleep, the student athletes had statistically significant better shooting percentages and

faster sprint times. The results suggested that more sleep most likely benefits athletic

performance (Mah et. al., 2011).

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To continue on the effects of a lack of sleep on athletes, sleep deprivation also contributes

to weaker immune function and muscle repair as well as reduced glucose metabolism (Kirschen

et. al., 2018). A weaker immune function increases the risk of sickness and thus reduced athletic

performance. Weaker muscle repair means that athletes take longer to recover and get less out of

workouts. Reduced glucose metabolism results in less energy for athletes that need it.

Additionally, Charles Czeisler asserts that reaction time can as much as triple when an athlete is

sleep deprived. This can be detrimental in performance, such as when a track sprinter hears the

gun and starts or when a basketball player has a pass coming towards him (C. Czeisler, 2019).

Czeisler also cites that “the probability of zoning out completely and having a lapse of attention

is much higher,” and that “balance and coordination are impaired,” both of which will

immensely detract from athletic performance (C. Czeisler, 2019). A major long-term effect of a

lack of sleep is that it can inhibit growth hormones that turn adolescents into adults. For example,

“the chronic sleep deficiency lowers testosterone levels, and that’s going to interfere with

strength and conditioning and increased injuries” (C. Czeisler, 2019). The shift from being a

child to an adult is an important shift in athletics, during which athletes’ bodies adjust.

Inhibitions of growth hormones can cause athletes to become weaker than peers with regards to

bodily strength. Altogether, sleep-sufficient athletes will likely have an advantage over sleep-

deficient athletes.

IV. Sleep Deficiency in Student Athletes

Overall, with student athletes being susceptible to both the disadvantages of sleep

deficiency in their academics and their athletics, they are at a higher risk of lower performance in

both categories. Academically and athletically, student athletes are prone to short-term emotional

and physical drawbacks as well as long-term developmental and physical impacts. Education is a
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large time commitment in student athletes’ lives; with athletics as an addition to the time

commitments, sleep is often what is compromised first -- before schoolwork, practice, and

sometimes even social lives. Dr. Laura Barger of Harvard Medical School believes that if student

athletes “take away all of the distractions and improve time management, then people are able to

go to school, do their homework, go to practice, and still get 8 hours of sleep” (L. Barger, 2019).

She also notes that it will take a lot of commitment on the part of the student athlete to get the

right amount of sleep (L. Barger, 2019), just as Dr. Charles Czeisler analogizes that making a

commitment to getting enough sleep is similar to making a commitment to a certain diet (C.

Czeisler, 2019). It is possible but takes dedication.

Research Methods and Data Collection

Research on the topic of sleep in student athletes was most appropriately

conducted using mixed method research because there were aspects of both qualitative and

quantitative methods. The tool was a survey, which asked both qualitative questions, such as

how student athletes felt about various aspects of sleep, as well as quantitative questions, such as

hours per night of sleep. A survey was the most appropriate tool because the research focuses on

student athletes, so surveying student athletes gives primary data that contributes to the research

question. A survey can also assess multiple aspects of the question with just one tool. The online

survey was distributed to high school students via social media. 89 high school students

responded to the survey.

Results and Data Analysis

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The main finding of this questionnaire was that although there did not seem to be a strong

association between the amount of athletic activity and the amount of sleep a student gets, a lack

of sleep strongly affects the athletic and academic well-being of student athletes. Out of all 89

respondents, 31.5% agree or strongly agree that their athletic participation decreases the amount

of sleep. Student athletes do not tend to think that their athletics reduce the quality of their sleep,

for 68.6% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that their athletic participation decreases

the quality of their sleep.

There were many variances in the amount of naps, the amount of homework, and the

amount of sleep that high school students get, regardless of whether they are athletes or not. The

majority of students (64%) shared the sentiment that they do not get enough sleep. There were

very mixed sentiments among students on whether they felt they slept well or not. The last

question of the survey asked respondents how they felt a lack of sleep affected them. Overall,

students responded with many of the possible effects. The most common answer was less focus,
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which 88.8% of respondents felt was an effect of less sleep. Less focus affects both athletic and

academic performance profoundly. Additionally, 74.2% of respondents answered that they are

more emotionally unstable when they lack sleep, which can make schooling and athletics more

difficult. Although only 43.8% of respondents answered that they feel their athletic performance

worsens with a lack of sleep, they answered other effects that would decrease their athletic

capabilities that may not be as noticeable (like focus and emotions).

Overall, these results support the claim that a lack of sleep in student athletes leads to a

decrease in athletic and academic performance. The results align with previous research in the

field, as explained in the literature review. This study was limited in that the audience came

almost entirely from one high school, which could skew the results towards the trends of just that

school. Also, the survey was distributed to high school students, so it does not make conclusions

for student athletes at the collegiate level. In addition, the self-evaluation of a questionnaire can

be difficult for reliable data collection; respondents cannot always accurately evaluate

themselves, especially for sleep, which can be difficult to assess because of unconsciousness

during the action. If this study were to be done again, it would be helpful to ask more questions

in the survey of how student athletes feel their sleep, athletics, and academics interact with each

other. That way, there would be more qualitative data to pair with the quantitative questions.

Discussion and Conclusion

The results of this questionnaire will contribute to the pool of knowledge in the sleep in

athletics field. It provides results that even further emphasize the need for sleep for the success of

students and athletes and the push for a better management of schedules to maximize sleep time.

The new knowledge from these results is the focus on high school students specifically and what

they think are the most prominent effects of a lack of sleep. Altogether, with wider knowledge on
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sleep deficiency in student athletes, young adults around the world will have the opportunity to

maximize both their academic and athletic performance. After all, “the number of participants in

high school sports in 2017-18 reached an all-time record high of 7,980,886” (“High School

Sports Participation Increases for 29th Consecutive Year,” 2018), meaning close to 8 million

student athletes would benefit from a comprehension of the effects of sleep deficiency on their

academic and athletic lives.

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References

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