effects of exercise on quality of sleep

8/2/2019 Effects of Exercise on Quality of Sleep

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Tiffany Goh

Effects of Exercise on Quality of Sleep

Abstract

Aim: To discern the effects of exercise on the quality of sleep

Method: Psychology class participants; experimental group exercises before

sleep, control group does not.

Results: Experimental group got overall worse quality sleep than control

group.

Conclusion: Difference obtained most likely due to chance and lack of

controls for extraneous variables.

This investigation aims to provide insight on whether having exercise will

affect a persons quality of sleep.

Hypothesis: Participants of the experiment who got exercise before

sleeping will experience better quality sleep as compared to participants

who did not; due to a change on brain pattern, which aids in relaxing.

Previous research, notably the study from the Journal of Adolescent

Health, has concluded with more athletic experiment participants having

better quality sleep. The study consisted of 434 Swiss teenagers, 258 of

which were athletes. The athletes, overall, reported fewer awakenings

during the night, were less sleepy and had better concentration during theday.

Participants who get exercise should have better quality sleep as

exercise has several health benefits, which can aid in improving sleep

quality. These benefits include improvement to mood, a factor which can

affect how well a person sleeps.


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The independent variable will be whether or not participants

exercise before they sleep; the dependant variable will be the quality of

their sleep.

Method

Participants: The sample population is a Year 12 Psychology class from

Glen Waverley Secondary College.

Materials:

Timers/clocks (participants own) Beds (participants own)

Procedure:

The population will be separated equally into two groups, thecontrol group and the experimental group.

The control group will have no exercise before sleeping the nightbefore school.

The experimental group will have 20 minutes of exercise beforesleeping on the night before school. (timers/clocks used to measure

time.

In class, the participants from each group will rate the quality oftheir sleep on a scale of 1 to 5.

Hours of sleep are also accounted for.

The results of each group will be compared to each other.

Results

Rating for Quality of

Sleep

No. for Experimental

Group

No. for Control Group

1 1 -

2 1 -

3 2 5

4 6 6


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5 - 1

Average: 3.3 quality Average: 3.7 quality

Hours of Sleep for each participant:

Experimental Group

Hours of Sleep for each participant:

Control Group

5 7

6.5 6

8 7

8 6

8 8

4 8

6 7

7 7.5

9 7

7 4.8

Average: 6.9 hours Average: 6.7 hours

The results indicate that participants who exercised before sleep had a

marginally lower quality of sleep (average of 0.4 lower) than participants

who did not exercise. However, participants who exercised before sleep

had slightly more sleep than those who did not exercise on average,

making an average difference of 0.2 hours.

Discussion

Statistical significance

P value for amount of sleep: 0.07

P value for quality of sleep: 0.05

The results, as a whole, do not support with the hypothesis. The P

value for each factor observed (amount and quality of sleep), are 0.07 and

0.05 respectively. These are very slim differences, which would suggest that

the results obtained from the experiment are likely due to chance, and

hence unacceptable.


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The slim differences may be due to various extraneous variables that

have not been considered, such as the amount of exercise each participant

usually gets, the health of the participants, the time the participant chose

to go to sleep, and the stress of the exercise undertaken. Such variableswould have affected the quality of the sleep. The amount of exercise

usually undertaken affects the fitness of the participant, and thus as stated

in the introduction, the brainwave pattern may have differed from those

who did not usually exercise. Furthermore, participants who do not usually

exercise would have found the sudden exertion of the body exhausting,

and hence have more fitful sleeps due to discomfort of the strains.

Past research, too is not supported by this study. The study from theJournal of Adolescent Health resulted in athletic participants who had

better quality sleep as well as less time taken to fall asleep. This contrasts

with the results of this study; participants who exercised before sleep had

less quality sleep than participants who did not exercise, averaging on the

ratings of 3.3 and 3.7 respectively.

In conclusion, the results of this experiment were made by chance,

and cannot be generalized to the whole population. There were too many

extraneous variables involved; the amount of exercise each participant

usually gets, the health of the participants, the time the participant chose

to go to sleep, and the stress of the exercise undertaken. Steps can be

taken in a new study to ensure these variables are controlled. A specific

category of people should be picked for the experiment, separated into

the normally athletic and normally non-athletic. The participants should all

be of equal health, with no long-term illness affecting them, they should

all go to bed at the same time, and the ones exercising should be

practicing a single exercise only, such as jumping jacks or jogging.

References:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleeping-angels/200908/exercise-

more-and-get-better-nights-sleep
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleeping-angels/200908/exercise-more-and-get-better-nights-sleephttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleeping-angels/200908/exercise-more-and-get-better-nights-sleephttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleeping-angels/200908/exercise-more-and-get-better-nights-sleephttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleeping-angels/200908/exercise-more-and-get-better-nights-sleephttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleeping-angels/200908/exercise-more-and-get-better-nights-sleep


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effects of exercise on quality of sleep

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