Emma

=Emma Henschke's Research Project (click heading for full project)=

=**Research Proposal:**=

**To what extent does a person's diet affect their sleeping behaviour?**
==== The relationship between food and sleeping habits came to my attention through the study of Nutrition as a part of my SACE this year. It became an area of interest when I further researched into the many myths and theologies associated with particular foods causing a good or bad night’s sleep. ==== ==== Firstly I will need to uncover some of the theories in regard to diet and its effect on sleep habits. After I have selected some of these ideas I can further explore into the specifics of how exactly the particular substance affects the way a person sleeps. Once I have gathered all of the necessary information on this theory I will test its plausibility over a time period, recording my findings and observations. Each will be tested in the same manner to keep the variables constant, and the findings of the experimentation phase will be collated and examined. I’m going to focus on personal development as my research capability as I have suffered from mild insomnia for most of my life and so with the results of my research perhaps I can extract some beneficial solutions to such a problem in relation to my current diet. It also makes sense for me to choose this capability as this research may aid my studies of nutrition this year as a Stage 2 SACE subject. I will be able to incorporate numeracy into my research through the interpreting of graph’s, statistics and when collecting data after experimentation. ==== ==== The ethical concerns which will need to be considered throughout my research will include areas such as surveying other people’s diets and their sleep behavior as a result, for many people may not wish to share such personal information. Another area which may propose and ethical concern will be if I decide to test one of the theories which I may discover in my research, I cannot expect people to be willing to volunteer act as a test subject and may need to simply rely on myself if I decide to undergo an experimentation phase of research. ==== ==== To start off my research project I will need to gather some general information about this area of interest and decide which theories I will have time to focus on and those which will best assist in answering my research question. Within the first few weeks I would like to get a survey out to a few randomly selected people to question them about whether or not they believe their diet affects the way in which they sleep. I have already contacted a few dieticians and nutritionists via email to ask if they would consider discussing my research topic and as I progress further into my research I will need to contact those which have agreed to forward on information or a brief discussion and this should be extremely helpful towards my project. However considering that their jobs require them to promote a healthy lifestyle I will need to perhaps consider a slight bias toward the inclusion of unhealthy foods into a diet which in some cases may promote a better night’s sleep. ====