The AdSleep Research Project
What are we doing?
There are many reasons why insufficient sleep durations and poor quality sleep are problematic including poor metal well-being and physical health. However, sleep is also critical for cognitive functioning (learning, memory, decision making, creativity etc.). This is why insufficient sleep on school nights for teenagers is particularly worrying
In this research project, we are tracking the sleep habits of over 400 11-16-year-olds over the next 3 years to investigate exactly how sleep changes across puberty. We will also be collecting information related to learning ability and performance in school to determine how such sleep changes impact the cognitive abilities of our teens, and the extent of the real-world impact on education.
For two weeks, our teens will be reporting their sleep habits and digital device usage using diaries and movement trackers. Following this, researchers will visit them in school to assess their learning ability, reading ability, and other measures of school performance including teacher ratings and assessments. Teens will also fill out more questionnaires related to their sleep and one questionnaire at home relating to their stage of pubertal development.
We hope this research project will shed light on the true impact of changes to sleep during adolescence on real-world performance in school, which could have important implications for educational policy and practice. This project will also give teens a chance to engage with scientific research and hopefully expose them to new careers in science which they may not yet be aware of.
