The Effects of Sleep Deprivation and the Consumption of Caffeine on High School Students’ Academic Performance in Surabaya, Indonesia

Abstract

Sleep deprivation, commonly defined as sleeping less than the recommended eight or nine hours, is increasingly receiving attention as accumulating adolescents from aged 12-19 experience sleep loss (Loessl et. al., 2008). From then until now, those who have valued their work over their sleep, as they make up for their sleep loss from their weekdays to their weekends (Loessl et. al., 2008), have been affected by people’s cognitive functions. In particular, standards for academic background have risen, resulting in the inevitable academic pressure upon students, especially high school and college students, who are working their way up to universities and colleges or jobs and internships. For example, Shur-Ken Gau and Wei-Tshen Soong (1995), who strived to investigate the cause and effect of the increasingly sleep deprived high school students in Taipei, reports that students in higher grade levels have increasingly less sleep because of the joint entrance examination (JEE) they have to pass to get into college. Although people under 15 may be sleep deprived, because sleep decreases with increasing age (Loessel, 2008), this paper will focus on the data of high schoolers that are above the age of 15.