Program Evaluation!

My results show that overall, I have improved from my baseline level behavior. Before this program, I started out as taking long naps, naps that are longer than 30 minutes, almost everyday of the week. Although over the 3 progress weeks I increased from 2 days to 3 days of taking long naps, it is significantly better than the usual 6 days out of the week that I would take long naps.

In the beginning of the program, the long-term positive reinforcement worked because it was a goal that I would have to work for in order to spend the amount of money I want to shop. Initially it was a good motivator, but as time passed by I kept on spending bits of money daily and the desire to spend $50 by the end of the week disintegrated.
Immediate negative reinforcement always worked because I did get that natural, physiological good feel and lack of fatigue when I awoke from a short nap rather than a longer one. So I strived for this feeling all throughout the program.
Immediate positive punishment did work because it focused on giving money to someone that I did not want to give money to- my sister. This was the main part of my program because other people helped me stray away from bad behavior.
Long-term negative punishment did not work because I did not have to work to get a privilege I already partially had. My curfew was already enough time to hangout with my friends, contrary to what I anticipated.

The heightened awareness alone was not responsible for the change in my case, since I was already aware of it and tried to change this behavior a few months back. However, planning it this program out and making sure I follow through did help me focus on my goals more.

For changes to be long-term, I would have to continually revise my program week by week until it is perfected. I would continue utilizing long term positive reinforcement and immediate negative reinforcement. The most challenging aspect of this assignment was when I had to time myself to a limit of 30 minutes max for each nap. Usually when I take naps I just naturally fall asleep almost anywhere, so taking time to put up an alarm was a painful reminder that I can only sleep for so long.

The most important aspect of this assignment is that I continue with the momentum of this program. I truly want to change my behavior so I can improve my life overall. It was interesting that everybody in the class was "forced" to do a blog and record their progress throughout week, nevertheless it was effective.

This assignment made me realize that operant conditioning is much complex than I initially reflected. When starting this program I thought it would be easy to change my behavior once I put my mind to it, especially with this rigorous program I set up for myself. However I soon found out that nothing would work unless I diagnose the right reinforcements and punishments that can actually be followed through.

It was fun blogging and thanks for reading everyone :)

Week 7 ! NoOOoo..

As you may have guessed from the title.. this past week was not good for me.

11/11 Wednesday - 2 hours
There was no school this day and I had a lot of free time. I gave into the temptation! :(

11/12 Thursday - none!
Had a lot due the next day and had work, no time to nap.

11/13 Friday - 20 minutes at home.
Was so busy writing the psychology field experiment paper.

11/14 Saturday - none!
What a busy busy day! Went to Human Trafficking Conference @ Mt.Sac 8am-12pm, then went to DBHS from 12:30pm-1:30pm to teach, then started getting ready for the UCSD Masquerade Ball which started at 11pm and ended at 3:30am the next day.

11/15 Sunday - 3 hours
Noo! This was because the previous night there was a fundraiser party, UCSD Masquerade Ball and I came home around 5:30am. Had to wake up at 11am for a meeting and went straight to my recital at Mt.Sac. Came home at 5, took a nap until 8 :(

11/16 Monday - 30 minutes at home.
Took a short nap.

11/17 Tuesday - 1 hour and 30 minutes at home
Got tired afterschool and gave in to temptation!

My behavior significantly got worse from previous weeks, I violated my goal 3 times. For this reason I will change my program!

Here are my thoughts and how the reinforcements/punishments seem to help change my behavior.

Long-Term Positive Reinforcement
I will be getting rid of this reinforcement because I had to go Christmas shopping online when there was a huge discount, and spent $70, when I wasn't even supposed to spend $50 if I were to follow the plan. My behavior is not reinforced by this and money did not become my motivator.

Immediate Negative reinforcement
I will not change this reinforcement because I still receive the brief refreshment feeling after taking a short nap rather than a long one. Furthermore I can not change this reinforcement anyway because it is a natural physiological state that follows after my behavior.

Immediate Positive Punishment
This punishment seems to be working because my mother gave my sister another $15 out of my paycheck this week. That is a total of $35 in 3 weeks !!!!!!! Unbelievable, I really loathe this, although I am putting myself through it. I am running low on money as it is because I have been buying Christmas presents. I have to work harder so I can keep my money!

Long-Term Negative Punishment
I promised myself that I will change my curfew from 11pm to 10pm, and I will make that change right now. I am making this part of the punishment stricter so I am more motivated to not fall asleep for so long so I can hang out with my friends longer.

Effective methods this week: Immediate Negative Reinforcement, Immediate Positive Punishment.
Ineffective methods this week: Long-Term Positive Reinforcement, Long-Term Negative Punishment.
Cancelled methods this week: Long-Term Positive Reinforcement
Altered methods this week: Long-Term Negative Punishment

One advice from an online site suggests:

"
Get Comfortable: Some people are lucky enough to be able to fall asleep anywhere, anytime. All they have to do is stop moving for just a few minutes and bam – they are out. Unfortunately it is not that easy for all of us. If you work at home and want to try napping, get comfortable in a familiar location. Go lay in bed or on your couch."
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/03/how-to-boost-your-afternoon-energy-with.html

From this, I've identified a part of ny problem. I get comfortable way too easily at anywhere, any time. I'm not really sure how to fix this 'problem', I think I will just stay out of secluded places and go to crowded places more, because I do feel insecure when people stare at me while I sleep.

Week 6 - Progress Week

11/4 Wednesday - none!
No time to nap, all day I was busy with school, as I usually am on Wednesdays

11/5 Thursday - 25 minutes at home.
Had a little bit of time to spare right before I went to work, so I took a little nap

11/6 Friday - none!
Hung out with friends after school then a banquet at night. No naps yet again!

11/7 Saturday - 1 hour at home.
Oh no, I couldn't help myself because I didn't have much planned out for the day and as I was studying for philosophy, my eyes started drooping and I just let myself go :(

11/8 Sunday - 1 hour 30 minutes at home.
Same reason for Saturday, I couldn't help myself because I had a lot of time to study and I couldn't keep myself awake studying for long consecutive hours.

11/9 Monday - 30 minutes at home.
My grandmother helped me wake up

11/10 Tuesday - 30 minutes at home.
Just like last Thursday, had time to spare before work so I rested for 30 minutes.

My behavior is not changing much in respect to last week, because last week I also violated my goal twice. I did receive all reinforcement/punishment with the help of my family. I am planning to change my program to be a little more challenging next week if I continue to have the same results or start slacking off.

Here are my thoughts and how the reinforcements/punishments seem to help change my behavior.
I've also included why I might want to change parts of the program by next week:

Long-Term Positive Reinforcement
I had the $50 to spend shopping all week long but I wasn't too disappointed when I took my first 30+ minute long nap on Saturday. This is because I'm being a frugal-ista right now and trying to save up money for Christmas. Like I said, if my behavior doesn't change before, I think I will reduce the $50 to $30, something more possible for me to spend at this time.

Immediate Negative reinforcement
I still do feel the physiological effects of shorter naps, as I feel refreshed with 25-30 minute naps. Hopefully my body gets used to the shorter naps and get more tired after longer naps. No changes will with this reinforcement.

Immediate Positive Punishment
Again my mom took out $10 to give to my sister from my paycheck, $5 from Saturday and $5 Sunday. Darn! I think this punishment is most effective because it's really getting to me. I don't like giving away money, especially to my sister, so I am going to consciously try harder to take shorter naps!

Long-Term Negative Punishment
The days I went out with my friends, I already usually return before 11pm, so this punishment is not really effective. My mom IS 'punishing' me for my curfew to be 11pm because of the two days I violated, but next week I will change to 10pm because I believe that will make me work more ardently. (Afterall, it is embarassing to explain to your friends that you have a 10pm-curfew!)

Effective methods this week: Immediate Negative Reinforcement, Immediate Positive Punishment.
Ineffective methods this week: Long-Term Positive Reinforcement, Long-Term Negative Punishment.

According to Michael Silber, co-director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, (http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/10/10/short-naps-are-okay/3106.html)

"Sleep too long and you could wake up feeling groggy, disoriented and not at peak performance. The medical term for this feeling is sleep inertia. It’s probably the result of waking up in the deep stage of the sleep cycle. And a nap too late in the day can interfere with nighttime sleep.

So how do you know if you are getting adequate sleep? “If you’re yawning, can’t keep your eyes open or are involuntarily dozing off at times, you’re probably getting insufficient sleep at night,” says Dr. Silber. The best remedy is more nighttime sleep. When that’s not possible, take a nap. "

I was surprised that this is related to what we learned in psychology, that we feel 'groggy' and 'disoriented' because we wake up after we enter the deep cycle of sleep. From now on, I'll try to take naps only when I feel they are absolutely necessary, such as the symptoms described by Dr. Silber from gettiung inadequate sleep.

Week 5 - Progress!

My target behavior was to dramatically reduce the long duration of my naps to 0-30 minutes per day.

Here is my progress report!

10/28 Wednesday - 1 hour, at home :( I put my alarm to 20 minutes, I woke up and turned to alarm off then went back to sleep. When I woke up I was disappointed in myself and told my grandma next time to wake me up in time.

10/29 Thursday - 30 minutes, at home. First time success! I thought of paying my sister more than $5 as a result of Wednesday and that really irked me. I didn't want to do it again so I changed my behavior.

10/30 Friday - none! I didn't have time throughout the day to take a nap because by midday I had to go to a retreat.

10/31 Saturday - 2 hours, at UCLA convention center A.S conference retreat :( I was really exhausted from the night before, or rather the morning of that day because I slept at 4:30am and had to wake up at 7am. I had too much fun at the retreat and that was my punishment!

11/1 Sunday - 30 minutes, at home. Another success, reinforced by my grandma!

11/2 Monday - none! I was able to control my urges to take a nap. Also I had to write 4 essays all that day because the retreat took so much time out.

11/3 Tuesday - 20 minutes, in the school library. Took a short power nap at school, usually it lasts for more than an hour but again with the help of my handy dandy cell phone and desire to not be drowsy in class, I took a short nap.

I am really proud of myself because I was able to achieve my goal 5 out of the 7 recorded days. My behavior is definitely changing, and what's even more exciting is that I no longer feel that short period of exhaust after the long nap, because mostly I am now taking shorter naps.

Long-Term Positive Reinforcement
I really wanted to spend $50 for the end of the week to shop, so in the beginning of the week it was a good incentive but when I found out that I need to pay $105 for a club event and membership, this motivation sort of drowned. I no longer wanted to spend money, especially out of my own pocket, ergo this reinforcement didn't play a big role for this week.

Immediate Negative reinforcement
As I mentioned before, I am now beginning to feel the positive physiological effects on taking shorter naps. When I took long naps lasting 2-3 hours, it took a bit of recovery time to get back to being productive. Although the recovery time is inconsistent, I'm glad to say I didn't feel any of those 'side effects' when I took short naps.

Immediate Positive Punishment
Since I didn't follow my program for two of the days I recorded, my mom will be taking out $10, $5 for last Wednesday's and $5 for last Saturday's results. This punishment is really effective as a source of motivation because I'm already losing money for club events and on top of that I will be losing money for my sister.. I'm sure she's more than ecstatic to receive even the smallest amount of money from me!

Long-Term Negative Punishment
This punishment is supposed to make sure I come home on time by 11pm, imposed by my parents if I were to not follow my plan. I went out with my friends on two nights last week but conveniently came home before 11pm without their constraint, but rather out of my own fatigue. Therefore this punishment wasn't really effective this week.

Effective methods this week: Immediate Negative Reinforcement, Immediate Positive Punishment.
Ineffective methods this week: Long-Term Positive Reinforcement, Long-Term Negative Punishment.

So far I am making great progress, thanks partially to my grandma who is double-checking on my progress. I really aspired to change this behavior for a long time so I'm relieved that I'm finally altering this mess, and getting more time to study for classes and tests. I don't believe my program should be changed because my program utilizes all positive and negative reinforcements and punishments. I don't want to be tougher on myself to the point where I give up.

Here's what I found on a site: http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslifestyle/a/powernap.htm

"The Benefit of a Power Nap: Studies show that 20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon provides more rest than 20 minutes more sleep in the morning (though the last two hours of morning sleep have special benefits of their own). The body seems to be designed for this, as most people’s bodies naturally become more tired in the afternoon, about 8 hours after we wake up."

"How Long Should I Sleep? When you sleep you pass through different stages of sleep, known together as a sleep cycle. These stages include light sleep, deep sleep (which is believed to be the stage in which the body repairs itself), and rapid-eye movement sleep, or REM sleep (during which the mind is repaired).

Many experts advise to keep the nap between 15 and 30 minutes, as sleeping longer gets you into deeper stages of sleep, from which it’s more difficult to awaken. Also, longer naps can make it more difficult to fall asleep at night, especially if your sleep deficit is relatively small. However, research has shown that a 1-hour nap has many more restorative effects than a 30-minute nap, including a much greater improvement in cognitive functioning. The key to taking a longer nap is to get a sense of how long your sleep cycles are, and try to awaken at the end of a sleep cycle. (It’s actually more the interruption of the sleep cycle that makes you groggy, rather than the deeper states of sleep.)

As there are pros and cons to each length of sleep, you may want to let your schedule decide: if you only have 15 minutes to spare, take them! But if you could work in an hour nap, you may do well to complete a whole sleep cycle, even if it means less sleep at night. If you only have 5 minutes to spare, just close your eyes; even a brief rest has the benefit of reducing stress and helping you relax a little, which can give you more energy to complete the tasks of your day."

It is perplexing to find out that long naps are beneficial as well, such as a much greater improvement in cognitive functioning. However I believe that for me there are more benefits to power naps, because the article says "longer naps can make it more difficult to fall asleep at night, especially if your sleep deficit is relatively small" which is very true for me. The article also states even 5 minutes will help you relax and give you energy throughout the day, so instead of aiming for no naps at all, I will try to aim for 15 minutes.