Whether There Is a Difference in Day Time College Students and Evening Time College Students Performance

Introductin

I think that there exists differences in day time college student and evening time college students' performances because we see sleep and wakefulness are intimately related states, with mutual influences (Ramos Platón, 1996). The present work focuses on the effects of sleep over wakefulness. Regarding the question about sleep functions, or why do we sleep, there is still not a definitive answer. Among others, sleep is important for cognitive restitution. It influences information processing, learning and memory consolidation (e.g., Lavie, 1996; Li Deming et al., 1991; Ramos Pláton, 1996). Therefore a certain amount of sleep is needed to adequate wakefulness. Sleep deprivation seems to impair particularly cognitive functions related to the prefrontal cortex, such as flexible and divergent thinking; dealing with novelty and unexpected; verbal fluency; novel responses and suppression of routine answers (Horne, 2000).

Besides the amount (or hours of sleep), the timing is also vital for adequate daytime functioning. The sleep-wake cycle is a circadian rhythm, which is spontaneously generated by the organism, with a periodicity, in the adult, of about 1 day (cf., e.g., Minors & Waterhouse, 1981). Therefore, we tend to maintain relatively stable schedules. Since the sleep-wake cycle is in harmony with other inner circadian rhythms, for example, deep body temperature and cellular mitoses, therefore, abrupt shifts of sleep-wake schedules lead to internal dissociation among circadian rhythms, which may imply undesirable effects such as somnolence, attention deficits, concentration difficulties, and performance decrements, which is very common in shift work and rapid travels across multiple time zones (DCSC, 1990). Some studies in undergraduates indicated that irregularities of 2-4 hours in the sleep-wake schedules are associated with higher fatigue, deterioration of mood and performance (Taub and Berger, 1973, 1974), and that students with irregular sleep-wake schedules had excessive daytime somnolence, comparing to regular colleagues (Manber et al., 1996).

As for other human characteristics, there are normal variations in the sleep-wake patterns and circadian rhythm characteristics (cf., e.g., Buela-Casal & Caballo, 1990; Kerkhoff, 1985). With respect to sleep duration, the majority of the population needs to sleep about 8 hours to fell well during the day. However, some people need more than 9 hours, the called long sleepers, and others feel well with less than 6 hours of sleep, the short sleepers. There are also inter-individual differences in the timing of the sleep-wake cycle, which have to do with the circadian rhythms. At the one hand, there are morning type people, that tend to be somnolent during the evening, enjoys going to bed and to wake up very early; they feel at their best in the morning (work, mood), and become increasingly tired across the day. At the other hand, evening type people like to go to bed and to wake up late, when possible; they do no functioning well during the morning, become increasingly alert across the day and feel at their best in the afternoon or at the evening. They have much higher tolerance ...