Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

Relationships Between Sleep Disturbance, Energy Levels, Low-Energy Coping Mechanisms, and GPA

College students are said to be the most sleep-deprived group of individuals; therefore, it is crucial to understand how sleep deprivation affects our well-being, especially with regard to academic performance and overall quality of life. It is hoped that this study adds to the existing research on the effects of sleep deprivation by examining low-energy mechanisms, and how these variables correlate with academic performance. We hypothesized that individuals with higher sleep disturbance would have more fatigue, increased use of low-energy coping mechanisms, and lower GPAs. Seventy-five undergraduate college students participated in our online, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed participants’ level of sleep disturbance, fatigue, GPA, and low-energy coping mechanisms: coffee, tea, and energy drink consumption; exercise and diet. The analyses revealed that sleep disturbance significantly positively correlated with energy drink consumption and coffee consumption. However, the relationship between sleep disturbance, tea consumption, diet, and exercise proved to be insignificant. This study also examined the relationship between sleep disturbance and fatigue, finding that sleep disturbance significantly positively predicted fatigue. From the results, it can be concluded that coffee and energy drink consumption negatively impact one’s sleep quality, while exercise, diet, and tea consumption have no impact. Contrary to the hypothesis, it was found that higher sleep disturbance significantly predicted higher GPA. The results have important implications for the overall quality of life of college students and can potentially be used to help individuals increase their GPAs and sleep quality by not consuming caffeinated beverages such as coffee and energy drinks.