Sleep is an essential aspect of daily life, without it, functionality would be compromised. There is plenty of research related to the hours of sleep an individual should receive per night depending on age and other factors. Previous research suggests that as people age, the amount of hours needed per night decreases (Millman, 2012). This is due to a number of variables, such as sleep disturbances, insomnia, sleep apnea and other health problems (“Changes in Sleep” , 2007). In fact, insomnia is the most prevalent sleep problem amongst the older age group, although it is observed in all age populations (Monjan, 2010). However, “your body clock also controls the production of a hormone called melatonin, which promotes sleep. As you grow older you produce less of this hormone, which may make it more difficult for you to sleep” (ABC Well-being and Health, n.d). Sleep problems are also strongly evident in the natural menopause period for women due to the psychological distress of depression and excess stress (Monjan, 2010).

Some research emphasizes the importance to maintain a consistent sleeping schedule and the side effects of inadequate hours of sleep. In the long run if the individual does not adapt a balanced sleep schedule, the risk of diseases or long-term health related problems may increase. (“Changes in Sleep”, 2007). The dogma of aging adults experiencing poor sleep quality as being a natural process of life has not been fully supported by some researchers (Monjan, 2010). Studies show that many diseases and disorders due to aging often occur during the later years of life, which causes poor sleep (Monjan, 2010). Coincidentally, people often neglect the fact that their complaints of poor sleep quality are due to their health problems and instead immediately assume it is because of their old age (Monjan, 2010).

Our reasons for investigating this topic were to determine whether the old dogma that many people believe in is true or not, through the surveys that we will conduct in our analysis. As students, our sleep schedules are sporadic and inconsistent, thus our interest in the topic of sleep is pertinent not only to our current health but also for our knowledge and future health. It is also apparent that sleep affects our performance during the day as well as our functionality in society. Will less sleep contribute to a reduction of functionality and productivity? This is relevant because it influences not only the work an individual performs, but the consequences that may result from a differed functionality. Additionally, we wanted to compare age groups and see if incidents and stresses that occur during the day affect the average amount of sleep. For example, does a child get more sleep because they have less concerns and pressures in comparison to a young adult, or an adult? The past research on this topic has been conducted couple years ago. However due to the rapid surge of social media such as Facebook and Twitter in the recent years, we would like to see how has social media has affected the sleep duration of the age groups, specifically adolescents. In addition, we would like to relate our observations to the dogma of sleep reduction as people age could signal different sorts of health issues. The interest lies in how varied the data is for different age groups, and data analyzed could lead to theories regarding why the average amount of sleep changes. Through further research, there is an opportunity to understand behavioral issues and health issues associated with the lack of sleep. The statistical analysis of sleep and age correlations is aimed to gain more data to further the research that is either currently being performed or is has already been performed.  Through this analysis, we hope to gain a better understanding of how much sleep each age group receives on average.