The Effect of Sleep Timing on Metacognition and Sleep Quality of Adolescents

The Effect of Sleep Timing on Metacognition and Sleep Quality of Adolescents

The present investigation aimed to study the metacognitive skills and sleep quality among male and female adolescents. The total sample comprises 108 adolescents, divided into 4 groups on the basis of sleep timing (A & B) and gender (F & M). Group A represents participants who sleep before 11:00 pm and group B represents participants who sleep after 1:00 am. Various metacognitive skills are measured using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), and quality of sleep is measured by the Sleep Quality Scale (SQS). Descriptive statistics and 2×2 ANOVA are performed on the scores obtained. The results show that females score higher than males on declarative knowledge, planning, conditional knowledge and debugging strategies. Group-based results show that group A scores higher than group B on various metacognitive skills (declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, conditional knowledge, planning, debugging strategies, evaluation), whereas group B scores higher on sleep quality than group A. Furthermore, it is observed that females of group A score higher than other groups on metacognitive skills, but males of group B score higher than other groups on sleep quality. Therefore, it is concluded that those who sleep early have higher metacognitive skills than those who sleep late.

Sleep is a unique aspect of consciousness which constitutes behaviors such as laying down, closing of the eyelids, resting and being relatively unaware of the environment. It is a biological process regulated by circadian rhythms — a kind of 24-hour biological clock dependent on the cyclic process of day and night (Vitaterna et al., 2001). Sleep consists of various stages, which Hasan et al. (2015) divide into two parts: NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) and REM (Rapid Eye Movement). Approximately 70% of sleep occurs during NREM, which has five stages.

Sleep quality refers to the extent of rest-fulfillment after sleeping. Poor sleep quality can result in repercussions such as inattention, lack of focus, sleepiness and dizziness, and can be driven by factors like sleeping late; perceived stress appears to be a major factor in low sleep quality among students (Ahrberg et al., 2012). Sleep quality is a crucial determinant of overall well-being and cognitive functioning. Previous studies have demonstrated that inadequate sleep quality can lead to reduced attention, memory deficits, and diminished executive functions (Hsu & Chang, 2022). Furthermore, sleep quality is essential for the effective consolidation of memory and cognitive skills, with research indicating that disruptions in sleep can impair learning and information processing (Zhou et al., 2023).

John Flavell (1979) established the idea of metacognition, which he defined as people’s awareness and knowledge of their own cognitive processes — “knowledge and cognition about cognitive phenomena.” According to Schraw and Dennison (1994), metacognitive awareness comprises two elements: knowledge about cognition and regulation of cognition. Knowledge about cognition involves being conscious of one’s thinking patterns and fallacies and consists of declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge (Young & Fry, 2008), while regulation of cognition involves the executive processes of cognitive control: planning, information management strategies, comprehension monitoring, debugging strategies and evaluation.