Applying Wearable Technology, Online Health Promotion Courses, and Social Networks to Explore the Impact of Chronotype, Physical Activity, and Eating Behaviors on Students’ Sleep Quality, Concentration, and Creativity

Taiwan vocational high school students experience long-term poor quality of sleep, which not only affects physical and mental health, but may also lead to poor concentration during classes and decrease learning effectiveness. The most recent research shows that quality sleep contributes to memory consolidation, as the brain organizes and integrates memories during sleep. Thus, quality sleep can assist in generating new and creative ideas, while long-term poor quality sleep has a significant impact on memory loss and cognition and creativity decline. Thus, this project aims to apply wearable technology (smart fitness trackers), online health promotion courses, and online social networks to explore the impact of chronotype, physical activity, and diet on student sleep quality, concentration and creativity. With the previous funding support from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the principal investigator has validated the application of cloud-based interactive game-based learning to enhance vocational high school students sleep quality and academic achievement. Over the next four years, the research will further explore other important factors that influence sleep, such as chronotype, physical activity, and diet, and their impact on students sleep quality and learning effectiveness (concentration during class and creativity). In addition, in light of the growing influence of online social networks on young adults, the research will focus on youth’s use of social networking sites, such as Facebook, and how best to use the intervention of online guides to enhance the effectiveness of cloud-based health promotion programs (physical activity promotion and diet management). Finally, online social network analysis techniques will be adopted to explore the differences of online social networks on social network features (social interaction features and social structural features), and the correlations and predictability of online social network process on sleep quality and learning effectiveness. This is a substantial increase in the richness and sophistication of data analysis and interpretation. The goals of this four-year project are to: (a) investigate Taiwanese vocational high school students’ genetic (through DNA testing) and acquired chronotype distributions and correlations; (b) construct an integrated model of learning effectiveness (concentration in class and creativity) based on chronotype, physical activity, diet, and sleep for Taiwanese vocational high school students; (c) use smart fitness tracker, online physical activity promotion courses, and different online social networks (unstructured and structured), to explore changes in high school students’ physical activity and the impact on sleep quality and learning effectiveness; and (d) use smart fitness tracker, different online health courses (promoting physical activity, promoting diet management, as well as promoting physical activity combined with diet management) and online social networks, to explore changes in high school students’ physical activity and diet, and the impact on sleep quality and learning effectiveness. To achieve the above goals, the first year of this project plans to randomly select two first-grade classes from each of four schools (two high schools and two vocational high schools; one high school and one vocational high school located in the north and the other two in the south), for a total of eight classes about 320 students. With interdisciplinary collaboration,the project will collect oral mucosal cells to conduct chronotype gene analysis through Period3 polymorphic DNA testing, at the same time administering a Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ); the collected data will be analyzed by point-biserial correlation. The second year project will conduct a stratified random sampling from 25 high/vocational schools proportionally representing Taiwan's northern, central, south, and eastern regions, with two first-grade classes per school randomly selected, for a total of about 2,000 students. Data from these participants will be used for evaluating the reliability and validity of a questionnaire scale, adopting structural equation modelling to develop an integrated model. The themes of the third and fourth year of the project are different, the third year focuses on the impact caused by different online social networks and the fourth year by different online health courses. In these two years, pretest-posttest quasiexperimental studies will be carried out, with data from a sample of about 160 students from four first-grade classes of a high/vocational school. Quantitative data will be analyzed with MANCOVA, while qualitative data will be analyzed with social network analysis techniques for difference analysis, ranking analysis, and prediction analysis. The project is expected to make contributions in terms of both academic research and social benefits. For academic research, this project leverages interdisciplinary teams’ expertise and makes innovative use of non-invasive extraction of oral mucosa cells to conduct chronotype analysis through Period 3 polymorphic DNA genetic testing. Furthermore, the study combines data mining from the field of information science with machine learning techniques to design a set forecast-based online community network analysis, conducting a comprehensive and rigorous interpretation of Taiwanese vocational high school students genetic and acquired chronotypes, physical activity, diet and sleep quality, and the relationship between concentration and creativity. The influence of smart fitness trackers, online health promotion courses, and online community network on sleep quality, concentration, and creativity will also be evaluated. The findings of this study will be presented at an important domestic and international conferences and published in high-quality international journals as (i.e., SSCI and SCI indexed journals). In terms of social benefits, this project is intends to promote the interesting and effective results of online health courses integrated with online social communities to other schools. The project itself will effectively enhance students' physical activity and dietary behaviors, thereby improving sleep quality, concentration, and creativity. When students attain a good sleep quality, they will naturally develop a healthy body and mind, also influencing the friends and family around them, reducing health care and social resources spending and effective enhancing social benefits.