“Science Buddies”, I have been doing a science project for my biology class and one of our requirements is to give an interview to an expert in the topic of my project. My project is the effect of amount of sleep on exercise. I am goign to measure the indurance of 5 people, every night they will have different amounts of sleep. I was wondering if ou can please take the time to answer these few questions.
1) What do you suggest is the best way to make someone fall asleep at a certain time of the night.?
a:
2) Would it be better to do this expirement on people of different ages or of the same age.
a:
3) What foods should be eaten for a healthy day?
a:
4) Is jogging a good source of exercising for this expirement?
a:
An interested student,
Alexis
Interview for Biology
Moderator: berkeleywebs
First, I must say my answers are subjective, but feel free to use them as I am happy to serve as the guinea pig in this case 
1) Have them read our Ask An Expert Forum (j/k). I would say get them into a food coma. I know I have friends who have fallen asleep in Italian restaurants after stuffing themselves
2) Well it depends on what variable you want to isolate and test. Remember, there should only be 1 variable per experiment (the changing factor). So I would say "same age."
3) Fruits & veggies, meat (enough proteins is actually very important), not necassarily too much grain though (the food pyrimid as we know it is largely a product of the lobbying of the grain industry)
4) Cardio is good as you can measure the subjects heart beat too
1) Have them read our Ask An Expert Forum (j/k). I would say get them into a food coma. I know I have friends who have fallen asleep in Italian restaurants after stuffing themselves
2) Well it depends on what variable you want to isolate and test. Remember, there should only be 1 variable per experiment (the changing factor). So I would say "same age."
3) Fruits & veggies, meat (enough proteins is actually very important), not necassarily too much grain though (the food pyrimid as we know it is largely a product of the lobbying of the grain industry)
4) Cardio is good as you can measure the subjects heart beat too
Exercise-Sleep Study Variables...
I agree with Shijun - if you only want to examine one variable, you need to isolate it and hold all other variables constant. This means that you need to try to match your subjects up as much as possible on all the other variables that you are not interested in studying (otherwise they will just inject variability into your results). The following list might be good ones to start with:
1. age - should be same or comparable
2. gender - all male or all female
3. weight - within +/- 10 pounds, perhaps
4. smoking status - either all smokers or all non-smokers
5. pre-existing fitness level - regular exercisers vs. couch potatoes
Just a suggestion to begin with - keep in mind that the more variables you attempt to match on, the harder it will be to find subjects. Good luck!
1. age - should be same or comparable
2. gender - all male or all female
3. weight - within +/- 10 pounds, perhaps
4. smoking status - either all smokers or all non-smokers
5. pre-existing fitness level - regular exercisers vs. couch potatoes
Just a suggestion to begin with - keep in mind that the more variables you attempt to match on, the harder it will be to find subjects. Good luck!
Erika J. Wyckoff
Sr. Six Sigma Master Black Belt
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williamcolocho
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1) What do you suggest is the best way to make someone fall asleep at a certain time of the night.?
a: It is usually harder to have subjects fall asleep before their "regular time". (You try it, go to bed two hours before your regular time). So, if you want to control the number of sleep hours, it may be easier to ask them to use an alarm clock and have them wake up early in the morning. Other factors like diet (caffeine, sugars) and activity level (exercise just before going to bed), will keep some people form falling asleep.
2) Would it be better to do this experiment on people of different ages or of the same age.
a: As it has been said, minimize your variables. Also, as people age, they tend to need less sleep every night. (One of my grandparents used to sleep about four hours per night).
3) What foods should be eaten for a healthy day?
a: Healthy foods.
4) Is jogging a good source of exercising for this experiment?
a: You could measure: Time to run 1 mile; maximum jump height (or average height for 10 jumps). You may need to be flexible here. If you ask too much of the people in your study, they may perform differently on different days for the "wrong" reason.
Hope this helps…
a: It is usually harder to have subjects fall asleep before their "regular time". (You try it, go to bed two hours before your regular time). So, if you want to control the number of sleep hours, it may be easier to ask them to use an alarm clock and have them wake up early in the morning. Other factors like diet (caffeine, sugars) and activity level (exercise just before going to bed), will keep some people form falling asleep.
2) Would it be better to do this experiment on people of different ages or of the same age.
a: As it has been said, minimize your variables. Also, as people age, they tend to need less sleep every night. (One of my grandparents used to sleep about four hours per night).
3) What foods should be eaten for a healthy day?
a: Healthy foods.
4) Is jogging a good source of exercising for this experiment?
a: You could measure: Time to run 1 mile; maximum jump height (or average height for 10 jumps). You may need to be flexible here. If you ask too much of the people in your study, they may perform differently on different days for the "wrong" reason.
Hope this helps…