Table of ContentsIntroductionMethodExampleProcedure/MeasurementEthicsSleep DiaryQuestionsStress and Sleep Quality ResultsStressSleep Duration and Sleep Quality ResultsThe Sleep Quality ScaleSleep Onset ScaleSleepConclusionStress and Disturbance sleep duration affect sleep quality?Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Many studies have been done on sleep quality and the factors that influence it. Sleep quality has an influence on general health and quality of life. To function or function optimally, the body and brain need rest. Do stress levels and sleep duration affect sleep quality? Objective: This article will focus on the effect of stress levels and sleep duration on sleep quality. Method: Ten male and female participants from different age groups were selected to participate in this research study. Results: Increased stress levels lead to decreased sleep quality ratings. Disturbances or awakenings during sleep and the time taken to return to sleep decrease the rating of sleep quality. Conclusion: Stress levels and sleep duration affect sleep quality.Keywords: sleep quality, stress, duration, disturbanceIntroductionIn this study, I want to determine whether stress levels and sleep duration affect perceived sleep quality. sleep of an individual. Is there a positive relationship between sleep quality and duration? Does disrupting sleep patterns or sleep duration negatively affect sleep quality? Can stress levels negatively contribute to sleep quality? Sleep quality affects a person's health and overall quality of life. Sleep is crucial for restoring energy and helps us retain information and perform memory tasks better. During sleep, restoration and rejuvenation of body and mind takes place. What is the quality of sleep? According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), a panel of experts established indicators of good sleep quality. They include: sleeping more in bed, falling asleep in less than half an hour, waking up only once a night; the time awake after initially falling asleep should be 20 minutes. According to (Hyeryeon YI, Kyungrim, & Chol, 2006), various questionnaires have been used to assess sleep quality, but few of them had comprehensive scales, making it difficult to assess sleep quality at different levels. They developed the Sleep Quality Scale (SQS). They identified the following domains of sleep quality: sleep initiation, sleep maintenance, sleep depth, dreams, awakening after sleep, post-sleep state, effect on daily life, sleep quantity, and sleep satisfaction. This scale can be used to assess sleep quality and help develop interventions for people with sleep problems, but further research should be conducted on the discriminative abilities of the scale on sleep quality levels. A self-report dairy or diary that reports items related to sleep quality is essential to obtain information that can be used to determine whether stress and sleep duration play a role in sleep quality. In this study, emphasis will be placed on the level of stress experienced before falling asleep, the duration of sleep and the quality ofsleep. MethodSampleTen participants (male and female) from different age groups from Gauteng were selected and consented to participate in this study. None of them have sleep disorders or neurological problems. Participants are all 19 years and older and all employed. Some participants have children. Their professions currently range from administrative to manager level.Procedure/MeasurementMeasurementA self-report sleep diary is used to explore sleep behavior. The self-reported sleep diary was kept for 7 days. The average score of each participant over the duration of the 7 days was used for the analysis. This measure is not a standardized psychological scale and therefore the reliability and validity of the measure are questionable. Reliability refers to the consistency of a measurement. A measurement is said to be reliable if it can produce equivalent results if reused in similar circumstances. The reliability of the self-reported sleep diary may not be consistent over time due to changes in the individual's current situation regarding work environment, health, stress levels, mood and other physical factors. Validity refers to whether the measure measures or examines what it claims to measure or examine. Self-report measures may lack validity due to respondent bias or the participant's feelings at any given time. Hyeryeon et al. (2006) made an important point by stating that sleep is a private experience and is influenced by many factors such as health, diet, age, gender, etc. and that the quality of sleep is perceived differently by individuals. Self-reports may be influenced by the individual's perception or feelings at the time, making it difficult to verify the reliability and validity of the information or materials. Ethics Written consent forms were obtained from each participant. The reason for the research was explained to them and it was confirmed that no confidential information would be disclosed to any third party. All participants were informed that they could withdraw their participation at any time. Clear instructions were given to them verbally and in writing to ensure that they knew exactly what was expected of them and that they carried out the task correctly and as accurately as possible. The average rating of each participant's stress level during a 7-day week was recorded and based on this average, the result was that 70% of participants scored a 3 (fairly stressful, more than usual ) on the scale, which indicates that they had quite stressful entire days, with 30% confirming that their days were not only stressful with a score of 2 (a little stress but not too much). Highest grades occurred during the week and were given by participants F and G respectively. Lower grades were given during the weekends by all participants except A, I and D. It appears that these participants experience stressful events/days more frequently than other participants.Sleep DiaryQuestionsi. It's time for me to go to bedii. It's time for me to wake up. Number of hours slept last nightiv. Number of awakeningsv. Total time awakevi. How long it took to fall asleep last night (scale of 0 to 4)vii. Actual hours of sleep after deducting the total time awake with the number of awakeningsvii. Sleep quality (scale 0 to 4) The averages of all participants over the 7 days of self-report journaling were used for questions i to vii. Participant stressAverage for the week Average sleep time Average wake time Hours of sleep before disturbance Number of awakenings Total time awake Fall asleep scale Actual hours of sleep Sleep quality Results on stress and sleep quality Results showed that 71 % of participants (D, E, F, G, J) rated the level of stress experienced during the day 3 (fairly stressful, more than usual) also rated their sleep quality 3 (fairly poor) or more. The rating for sleep quality is: 0 (very good) 1 (fairly good) 2 (average, not particularly good). or bad)3 (a little bad)4 (very bad)High ratings of perceived stress correlate with negative ratings of sleep quality. The graph below shows that an increase in stress levels leads to a decrease in good sleep quality. however, some of the participants (M, I) who reported moderate stress levels 2 (some did not stress too much) without significant decreases in sleep quality. Factors such as duration of undisturbed sleep and total wakefulness as well as the time taken for these participants to fall asleep could play a crucial role here. Other sleep-related factors might also be relevant. The general mood of the participants should be taken into account, as some people tend to be more positive than others about things in general and may not necessarily feel that their sleep quality is that poor, even though they may not have gotten enough sleep. StressAccording to Medicine Net (https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20104) stress is an emotional, physical or mental reaction to tension caused by environmental or internal factors. Stress is a highly individualized experience, meaning that one person may experience an event as stressful and react accordingly, while another person may not experience the same event as stressful at all. Stress can be the causative factor in many medical conditions, including poor wound healing, high blood pressure, and diabetes, to name a few. The relationship between stress and sleep is clearly shown here as sleep helps repair and rejuvenate the body and lack of sleep due to stress can affect the individual immensely on a physical level. Sleep disturbances or changes in sleeping patterns are also common physical symptoms of stress. The National Sleep Foundation (https://sleepfoundation.org/insomnia/content/what-is-insomnia) defines insomnia as an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep even when given the opportunity to do so. Stress causes hyperarousal that affects the balance between wakefulness and sleep, which can lead to insomnia. Stress increases the level of difficulty falling asleep and if a person has difficulty sleeping and staying asleep, they may begin to perceive their sleep quality as negative. From the study carried out, it is clear that some participants believe that their sleep quality is negative. sleep is not good and they have rather high stress levels. If we consider the duration of sleep and the number of awakenings as well as the time taken to return to sleep, we can conclude that there is a relationship between stress and sleep quality. Stress negatively affects sleep quality. Results on sleep duration and quality In our table, we used each person's average score or rating over a 7-day period reported in the self-assessment diary. For the analysis of sleep duration, the following inputs are importantBedtime of the participantWake time of the.