Genius Hour

This blog is going to be different from my normal e-Comm blog. My chemistry class has been working on this "Genius Hour" project almost all year. The main objective of the project is to make something "better" in the world. My partner, Ariella, and I chose our subject to be how our cell phones impact our sleep.

 Research Plan

Sleep is an important aspect in living a healthy life, but cell phones and social media are preventing people from getting the sleep they need. Teens are known for being on their phone right before falling asleep and even though they lose sleep they continue to be on their devices. This causes many problems since the blue lights and sounds on their devices keep them awake. When on any electronic device that emits blue light, the light restrains the production of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that controls a person’s sleep cycle (Sleep Science). When your brain is focused on social media it makes it much harder to fall asleep (Sleep Science). Sleep is known to lower stress levels and make your immune system stronger (Nimalasuriya, Kshamica). Sleep is also known to help memory by allowing us to remember what’s important and forget what’s not (Max, D.T.). In this project we plan to create an app that will help people fall asleep faster while on their phone.

    In this project we are going to bring together science and animation/graphic design. First we will discover the sciences behind what causes a person to fall asleep. We will collect data on what elements allow people to fall asleep quicker and get a more sufficient sleep. We will use senses such as sight and hearing to help relax your body enough for a more adequate sleep. Using these methods we will then use graphic design and animation to form the app. The app will include games, sounds, pictures, and gifs to relax your senses enough for you to drift off. We will have 14-45 year olds testing this experiment. This experiment requires all ages who would have a smartphone or any electronic device.

    There are really no safety precautions or risks that come with creating this app. The point of this project is to make the world healthier by making less people sleep deprived. The app will turn off the blue lights in the device that cause the restraint of melatonin production, ultimately helping people fall asleep faster. We will analyze the data by testing it out ourselves and seeing if the app causes us to become more tired. We will test it multiple nights, then collect any data afterwards to see if our results can make a difference.

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Bibliography

Max, D.T.. Secrets of Sleep (2007). National Geographic.

Nimalasuriya, Kshamica. Is your smartphone keeping you awake at night? (2013). Natural News.

Scary Ways Technology Affects Your Sleep. National Sleep Foundation.