Post: #1

Discuss the importance of sleep for resilience and academic performance. In your discussion,
be sure to touch on the relationship between sleep, self-regulation (emotional and behavioral),
coping with stress, and efficient cognitive functioning.

Conduct a survey between friends and family

- Flow theory, lose sleep
- Sleep is a state of the mind and body characterized by altered or reduced
consciousness. Good quality sleep is essential to your survival and plays a crucial role in
both physical and mental health. For example, sleep is involved in repairing cells in the
body, especially in the heart and blood vessels. Sleep is also very important for brain
functions, such as emotional regulation and thinking (cognitive functioning). There is a
close and bidirectional relationship between sleep and your mental health. (M2 section
1.13)
- Poor sleep can include poor quality or quantity (too little) sleep and has an effect on your
mental health. Poor sleep is associated with feelings of worry, difficulties coping with
stress, and low self-esteem, which ultimately leads to a lower well-being. In turn, stress
and worry also negatively affect our quality of sleep, acting in a cyclical fashion. (M2
section 1.13)
- Sleep and memory, uninterrupted sleep - Dr. Simon Kyle
- Talk about stages of sleep: section 2
- Behavioral, 2.20
- Circadian rhythm, 2.24

https://www.tempo.io/blog/7-time-consuming-things-an-average-joe-spends-in-a-lifetime#:~:text
=Given%20that%20an%20average%20a,one%20third%20of%20their%20life.

Paragraphs:

Intro: I conducted a survey, use data in each question…

Relating to sleep for resilience and academic performance:
1. Sleep & Self-regulation (emotional and behavioral)
2. Sleep and coping with stress
3. Sleep and efficient cognitive functioning

Counting Sheep - The Importance of Sleep for Resilience and Academic Performance

Did you know that the average person spends almost a third of their entire life sleeping?
(Bjarki, 2013). It’s no wonder that sleep is such an essential aspect of our lives. “Good quality
sleep plays a crucial role in both physical and mental health” (Module 2, Section 1.13).
Evidently, sleep is what fuels our survival and maintenance of quality lives.
Recent studies show that sleep deprivation is “associated with reduced neurocognitive
performance… Cognitive performance in students, including concentration, is negatively
affected” (Alotaibi, 2020). As a student myself who has often felt the lasting effects of sleepless

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 nights, I decided to conduct a small survey amongst fellow students to observe the effects of
sleep on academic performance. The results were glaringly obvious: those with the highest
G.P.As slept the most hours, and 100% of participants stated that sleepiness negatively affects
their academic performance.
Additionally, when asked about the main causes of sleepiness, 80% of participants
attributed it to stress. “Poor sleep is associated with difficulties coping with stress, which
ultimately leads to a lower well-being” (Module 2, Section 1.13). Thus, the more sleep we have,
the more resilient to stress we become, which is especially important for university students.
While sleep is the way our bodies seem to regulate after a long day, the emotional and
behavioral regulation that comes with adequate sleep is just as important. “Deprivation of sleep
makes us sensitive to stressful stimuli and events. Sleep appears to be essential to our ability to
cope with emotional stress in everyday life” (Vandekerckhove, 2018). Maintaining a healthy
sleep schedule makes us less irritable and able to regulate our emotions. On the behavioral
level, sleep is essential for setting a healthy rhythm to your day and keeping a balanced routine.
Evidently, the third of our lives spent sleeping is not in vain.
Thus, the next time you are laying in bed counting sheep, I encourage you to reflect on
the true and utter importance of sleep.

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