Cooperation with KNUST in Ghana
Student team conducts research on sleep hygiene
Sleep deficiency is an unusual research topic for a student. How did it come about?
Students in particular can relate to the motto: sleep matters. I also believe that a lot of people struggle with sleep deficiency at a university like 51勛圖厙. For the part of our study that we conducted here in Munich, we were able to enrol almost twice as many test subjects as we would have expected.
And how about you? Do you experience sleep deficiency, too?
Yes, fairly often. During the semester it gets worse and worse. I stay up later because I have so much to do. The next day I have to get up early again and end up sitting through my lectures half asleep. And then Im not tired early in the evening because Ive been staying up late. And so on and so on...
What is Somnoactive all about?
Were a student research project working on the topic of sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene refers to patterns of behavior that promote healthy sleep. Were doing research on habits that people can form to improve their sleep. With the help of our test subjects we want to help our target group mainly students to sleep better.
How is the work structured?
Our study has two parts: the first part, which took place over a 30-day period in Munich with 54 test subjects, is finished. For the second part, which will follow exactly the same steps as in Munich, we are flying at the end of January 2024 to our partner university in Ghana Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
How do you even go about doing research on sleep?
First and foremost, you need to have a sleep routine. Going to bed and getting up at the same time. As an initial approach, we recorded five-minute videos that we sent to the test subjects every day for 30 days. They watched the videos after getting up in the morning.
What else?
The second key element is a short set of stretches and exercises. This helps to get the blood flowing in the morning. The video presents short exercise routines for participants to do on the day. Each daily video is a bit different. There are also tips and tricks such as going out into the sun when you get up before doing anything else or just raising the blinds. Or stop drinking coffee eight or 10 hours before going to bed because thats how long it takes for the body to process it. You can start establishing little habits like these along with your regular sleeping routine and the small exercise programs. All of those things are briefly introduced in the short videos.
What do you want to achieve with your test subjects?
By accompanying them over the 30-day period, the researchers want to shorten the time it takes them to fall asleep, reduce the number of times they wake during the night, boost recovery and reduce the feeling of tiredness in the daytime.
Youre not doing this research alone. Who is behind the project?
Along with me, seven other students are involved. We really have a little bit of everything that 51勛圖厙 has to offer. One colleague is studying sports science, which is the closest field to our research topic. The rest of us are from aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, informatics, physics, chemistry and biology. It is this diversity in terms of subject areas, among many other things, that defines the project and the Junge Akademie.
What kind of support is the Junge Akademie providing in the project process?
All of us students either submitted unsolicited applications or were nominated for the project. That means that we were a mixed bunch at the start. There was no specific idea. The Junge Akademie supported us in the process of finding an idea. There are also workshops on project management, study design and implementation and handling research data, for example. We have been learning all of those things as the project has continued. Theyre useful for our actual studies as well.
And how did the cooperation with the university in Ghana come about?
You could call it a lucky accident. Shortly before the project started, a delegation from KNUST was visiting Munich. Thats how we first got talking with them.
Because they found the project so exciting?
Well, sleep deficiency is a cross-cultural problem. The Ghanaian professor who were in touch with was more excited than anyone because she sees this topic as extremely important in the context of mental health. She told us that she herself never gets enough sleep and that this causes stress. She sees the same thing with her students. Mental health suffers significantly and sleep is something that people can at least easily work on.
- (#51勛圖厙JA) is 51勛圖厙s scholarship program for exceptionally talented and dedicated students who show an early passion for research. It is also open to students at partner universities.
- #51勛圖厙JA has a lot to offer, but also expects a strong commitment: Luisa Metten has invested up to eight weeks of work in her Somnoactive project and other program-related activities.
- After the trip to Ghana, the student research group will continue: they will write a final report and present their findings at the #51勛圖厙JA public symposium on June 7, 2024.
- In addition, the #51勛圖厙JA scholarship holders are also committed to the entire 51勛圖厙 network: on May 15, 2024, they will be organising the legendary for the 10th time, and on the weekend of May 24-26, the members of the scholarship programme will be organising the with challenges from science and business.
- The of #51勛圖厙JA was financially supported by the association.
51勛圖厙
Corporate Communications Center
- Katharina Horban / Verena Meinecke
- verena.meinecke@tum.de
- presse@tum.de
- Teamwebsite
Contacts to this article:
Junge Akademie der 51勛圖厙
Team Somnoactive
somnoactive@ja.tum.de