The Effect of Hours of Sleep has on the Early Development of Anxiety
Ila Langelotti
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to determine if
there was a correlation between the average
hours of sleep obtained during any given night
throughout a week and the early onset
symptoms of an anxiety disorder in order to
provide a prevention to those who have a high
risk of developing this disorder.
BACKGROUND
The effects of not sleeping at least eight hours a night are
more detrimental to one’s physical and mental health than
just being tired. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to
obesity, heart failure, impairment in immunity and an overall
change in appearance. Most high school students don’t
receive the proper amount of sleep due to excessive
homework, having a job, being part of an extracurricular,
hanging out with friends or staying up late to study.
Teenagers are most likely to develop an anxiety disorder at
least once throughout their teenage years whether it is mild
or high level (HENKER, B., WHALEN, C. K., JAMNER, L. D., &
DELFINO, R. J., 2002). Determining the link between hours
asleep and the early symptoms of anxiety can aid in
attempting to reduce the risk of Developing a high level
anxiety disorder.
HYPOTHESIS
Null Hypothesis
There is no correlation between the hours of
sleep one receives on a given night versus the
early symptoms of developing anxiety.
Alternative Hypothesis
The more hours of sleep one receives in a
night, the lower the risk of developing anxiety
is.
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2015
www.PosterPresentations.com
Harrison High School
METHODOLOGY
Determining the Rate of Temperature Recovery in Thermoregulation of Skin in Different Body Regions
To determine if the amount of hours of sleep obtain a given night plays a significant role in the development of early signs of anxiety disorders a
random sample of students were given a survey. The survey had four questions. The first question asked the participant how many hours of sleep
they receive on an average given night. The options contains six different ranges of hours to chose from, 0-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-8, 8-10, 10+hours. The
second question requests the participant use a 1 to 10 scale to express how often they feel nervous, restless or tense throughout a week. The
third question request a participant use a another 1 to 10 scale to express how often they feel hey sense of impending danger, doom or panic.
The last question also requires the 1 to 10 scale to express how often the participant feels they have a hard time concentrating throughout the
week. Students who attend Harrison in the 2021 Biomedical Innovations class were given a link to the survey as well as students who had swiped
up and answer the survey through a Snapchat stories. Once the responses were recorded, the data was compiled into a Excel spreadsheet. The
sum of each participants answers on the last three questions was calculate into its own section. The sums were compared to the amount of hours CONCLUSION
they got in a given night. The participants that responded to the first question between 0 to 6 hours of sleep replaced in group 1 and the
participants that responded to the first question between 6 and 10 hours of sleep were placed in group 2.
Statistical Analysis
Based on the statistical analysis, the data set has
Upon completion of data collection, statistical analysis and an independent t-test were performed to determine significance. The calculated t- failed to reject the null hypothesis. Although there
statistic value was calculated to be .0927 while the degrees of freedom was determined to be 33. is an obvious connection to hours of sleep versus
the early symptoms of anxiety, this is not
Limitations
considered statistically significant. Getting less
sleep per night puts one at higher risk of
The biggest limitation with this analysis was the small sample size. The also survey had a very small outreach so it’s hard to generalize the data.
Only students in the biomedical innovations class had access to the survey as well as those who saw the survey in a Snapchat Story. Larger developing anxiety can not be fully concluded until
outreach could lead to a significant increase in the sample size. the outreach and sample is larger.
There also may be some confounding variable‘s including medical history and previously diagnosed anxiety disorders. To reduce this, a brief
medical history could be included in the survey.
Also the information asked may be hard for someone to answer on the spot. Many teenagers have a variety of sleep schedules depending on
when they work or when projects are due. To eliminate this limitation, the participant could be given a chart to fill out for each day throughout a
week before they enter in their data.
RESULTS
The raw data collected from the participants shows that the students with the fewer amount of hours of sleep experienced more of the early
symptoms of anxiety within a given week. The average sum of the answers for receiving 2 to 6 hours of sleep(group 1) per night was 20.13 and
the average sum of the answers for receiving 6 to 10 hours per night was 15.61. There was no data collected for 0 to 2 hours and 10+ hours of
sleep per night. The line that connects the points has a negative slope.
REFERENCES
HENKER, B., WHALEN, C. K., JAMNER, L. D., & DELFINO, R. J. (2002).
Anxiety, affect, and activity in teenagers: Monitoring daily life with
electronic diaries. Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(6), 660-670. https://doi.org
/10.1097/00004583-200206000-00005