BA PLAN: Sleeping

More, Stressing Less

Sarah Kim

How can sleep affect stress, anxiety, and procrastination levels?

Many studies support associations between lack of sleep with stress and anxiety, and vice versa. Positive correlations (Lund, Reider, Whiting, & Prichard, 2010; Misra & McKean, 2000;

Ross, Neibling, & Heckert, 1999; Wolfson, 2010)

Having healthy sleeping habits can promote mental well-being (Howell, Digdon, Buro, & Sheptycki, 2008)

Relationship between procrastination levels and time preferences. When to take care of business When to wake up or go to bed

(Franzisco Díaz-Morales, Ferrari, & Cohen, 2002)

University Student Sleep Study

Participants: University students 17-

24 years of age.

Measured: Sleep patterns and

relationship to behavior.

Results: Low amounts of sleep

are followed by symptoms of emotional disturbances

(Lund, Reider, Whiting, & Prichard, 2010)

Sleep Quality Relates to Overall Well-being

Participants: 305 undergraduate

students

Measured: Mental health and

sleeping conditions

Results: Students with healthy

sleeping habits scored higher on mental health assessments

(Howell, Digdon, Buro, & Sheptycki, 2008)

Prominent Origins of College Student Stress

Participants: 100 college students

Measured: Student Stress Survey

items “Interpersonal”,

“Intrapersonal”, “Academic” & “Environmental”

Results: Change in sleeping

patterns was the most significant source of stress

(Ross, Neibling, & Heckert, 1999)

Introducing Procrastination

Definition: Putting off a time-sensitive action

until one begins to feel unsettled (Ferrari, 1992).

Research provided evidence for relationship between time preferences & procrastination tendencies (Díaz-Morales, Ferrari, & Cohen,

2008)

Another study contributed that stress is identified with procrastination in students. Stress moderates time preference

and procrastination associations. (Hess, Sherman, & Goodman,

2000)

Conclusion of Literary Research:

If poor sleeping habits correlates closest with measurements of anxiety and stress, and procrastination is a probable result of stress, then practicing better sleeping habits should also cut down on procrastination.

Hypothesis:

Independent Variable Hours slept each

night

Dependent Variables Level of stress Level of anxiety Level of

procrastination

Getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night will reduce stress and anxiety levels, as well as decrease level of procrastination.

Participant:

One 20-year old female participant of mixed race

3rd year of college No exclusion criteria

Measures:DASS-21 Scale

Measures depression, anxiety, and stress (7 items each)

Rating scale (0-3) for each item 0 – did not apply to me at all 1 – applied to me to some degree 2 – applied to me a considerable

degree 3 – applied to me most of the time

Example items: Depression: “I couldn’t seem to

experience any positive feeling at all”

Anxiety: “I was aware of dryness of my mouth”

Stress: “I felt that I was using a lot of nervous energy”

Lay’s Procrastination Scale

Measures procrastination (20 items) Rating Scale (1-5) for each item

1 – extremely uncharacteristic 2 – moderately uncharacteristic 3 – neutral 4 – moderately characteristic 5 – extremely characteristic

Example items: Procrastinative Behavior: “I

often find myself performing tasks that I had intended to do days before”

Reverse-Scored: “When it is time to get up in the morning, I most often get right out of bed”

Procedure:1. Collect baseline data for DASS-21 and

Procrastination Scale measures

2. Attempt to sleep 7 hours each night, 5 nights a week (Monday-Friday) for 6 weeks

3. Record number of hours slept the previous night, rounding to nearest whole hour

4. After trial period is over, administer both tests once more and collect post-test data.

Results Successfully engaged

in BA Plan 20 out of 30 total nights. Mean: 4 nights/week Min: 2 nights/week Max: 5 nights/week

Slept total of 209 hours Mean: 34.8

hours/week Min: 28 hours/week Max: 42 hours/week

Baseline Scores: Stress: 30 Anxiety: 16 Procrastination:

80

Post-Test Scores: Stress: 7 Anxiety: 3 Procrastination:

56

Figures

Baseline Score for stress:

Post-test Score for stress:

05

101520253035

Baseline v. Post-test DASS-21 Stress Score

Axis Title

Baseline Score for anxiety: Post-test Score for anxiety:02468

1012141618

Baseline v. Post-test DASS-21 Anxiety Score

Anxi

ety

Scor

e0

306090

Baseline v. Post-test Procrastination Score

• A paired-samples t test would be the most appropriate method to compare baseline scores of each measure to their respective post-test scores.• IV: Hours slept• DV: Baseline & post-test

scores for each measure• Will most likely see lower means in

post-test scores.

What do these results show?

There is a possibility that my hypothesis is correct. Post-test scores of each measure turned out to

be much lower than the baseline scores. Therefore, getting at least 7 hours of sleep each

night for 5 nights per week had a possible significant effect on stress, anxiety, and procrastination levels.

If follow-up research supports this finding, this means that amount of sleep each night significantly affects levels of stress, anxiety, and procrastination in human beings.

Limitations Only one participant in the study.

Cannot perform statistical tests on data Sample data cannot accurately represent an entire

population

Possible experimenter’s bias Participant, who was also the experimenter, had

full knowledge of the current study, which brings up the possibility of biased responses to measures

Outside factors affecting ability to successfully complete BA plan every night

Suggestions for Future Research

To avoid limitations of the current study, future research should: Recruit a much larger sample representative of a specific

population (preferably adolescents or college students) Withhold information from the participants that may cause

biased responses.

Other questions to explore: How many total nights can the behavioral activation plan be

skipped and still have a significant overall effect on stress, anxiety, and procrastination levels?

Since stress and anxiety are often related to depression, and a common symptom of depression is sleep disorders, will this study have a similar effect with depression as one of the dependent variables?