Mechanisms of Sleep

Zakary Blyth, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Psychology

Working on my capstone project was an academically fulfilling experience, full of challenges and triumphs. With the help of Dr. Batmanian, I put together a literature review consisting of all of the significant research and discoveries revolving around sleep within the last decade.

The past decade has been a fruitful period for sleep research, with studies attempting to solidify what the ideal conditions are for the perfect night’s sleep, and studies that take a deeper look into what goes on within the body during the deep sleeping hours. This also includes new discoveries about what the potential consequences are for the body when one is sleep deprived for an elongated period of time (usually consistently for years). Using these studies, I combined the information from all three sections to isolate the perfect conditions for optimal productivity and cognitive output.

The experience of this was challenging at times, as there was no shortage of brand new research. With all of these articles to choose from, choosing the ones that were most relevant, and which tied together with the other articles from each section was quite the task. By the end of the project, I ended up using 19 different studies, all of which have ideas that are interwoven within the others. There were a few rewrites as well, to make sure I got what I needed from each article. Although this proved to be challenging at the beginning, the amount of new information I learned by the end was well worth it. I got the chance to really use the skills I learned about writing APA research papers, and got the opportunity to write a full-length review of my own, which was a great experience. Dr. Batmanian was extremely helpful in helping me to edit my work, and helped keep my ideas on track, along with giving several helpful suggestions that helped the paper flow better.

The other component of the project, the poster board, was a wonderful learning experience as well. Having to pinpoint a select few talking points from the paper that effectively summarized the main ideas of the work was interesting, and designing the poster itself was pretty fun, because there were so many options. I was excited to share my work at the Undergraduate Research Conference.

Overall, my experience completing my capstone project was a great one. I got the opportunity to learn a lot about sleep (and there is so much more to know that has not been discovered yet), and present it as comprehensively as I could. I was able to use the skills I learned throughout my time at CSI, and complete a project that I am proud of. I could not wait to present this work, and to see the amazing work of my peers.