The relationship between sleep, stress, and performance measured by vertical jump height in high school aged kids
Date of Award
Spring 5-10-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Exercise Science
Department
Kinesiology
First Advisor
Brenda Davies
Second Advisor
Erin Kasmarikmallett
Abstract
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), 72.7% of high school students do not get the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep every night. Little research has explored how quality of sleep and perceived external stress might influence the athletic performance of high school-aged individuals. The primary purpose of this study is to identify how sleep time and quality of sleep may be related to performance in countermovement vertical jump with arms on a daily basis. Additionally, a secondary purpose is to identify how external stress may factor into the sleep and performance relationship. The hypothesis is that the increase of sleep quality and amount of sleep will correlate to an increase in performance. Additionally, it is hypothesized that a higher amount of external stress will be connected to poorer sleep quality and performance. Stress and sleep data were collected using questionnaires while a countermovement vertical jump (CMJ) was used to assess performance. On average, students in the study slept 7 hours and 45 minutes and displayed a mean vertical jump of 19.8 ± .754 inches. The quality of sleep was 7.7 ± .14 and perceived daily stress level was 2.14 ± .18. Very low correlations were seen between variables, which is likely due to the limited number of participants. Future investigations should explore the link between sleep quality, stress, and performance in high school students with larger sample sizes.