Better Sleep Routine Leads to Better Grades in School

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During the midterm season, just as we are in right now, many students in university and high school spend countless nights staying up late to study for their upcoming examinations. Although these students obtain more hours of study giving up their sleep, the test results do not match what they hoped for.

A study done by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) professors proved that in order to have better academic performance, students need longer sleep duration, better sleep quality and greater sleep consistency.

The study was done by tracking each student’s sleep throughout an entire semester using a device called Fitbits. Since the device uses a combination of the wearer’s movement and heart-rate patterns, Fitbits were used to estimate the duration and quality of sleep. For example, to determine sleep duration, the device measures the time the wearer has not moved, in combination with signature sleep movements, such as rolling over. To determine the quality of sleep, the device measured the wearer’s heart-rate variability which shifts during transitions between different stages of sleep. Fitbits were able to determine the sleep measures, and the professor compared those results to the in-class performance, such as quizzes and midterm examination.

The findings were quite interesting because they found that most of the students who went to sleep before the certain time, which was 1:47am, had higher overall score compared to students who went to sleep after. They also found that students who woke up before the certain time, which was 9:12am, had higher overall score compared to students who went to woke up after.

They found positive correlation between mean sleep duration and overall score, which means there could be relation between longer sleep and better grade. The negative correlation between sleep inconsistency, which was measured by the standard deviation of the student’s daily sleep duration, and overall score, means there is possibility that inconsistency in sleep duration could lead to lower grade. They also found a positive correlation between the wake-up time and overall score as well. Students who woke up before 9:12am  significantly higher score than the students who woke up after.

This research also touched on the academic performance between women and men. In the article focusing on the study, Dr. Grossman, one of the researcher that conducted the study, says sleep could be the reason to why women are doing  academically better in the class compared to men.

In the end, in order for students to do well in school, they need to be able to manage the time well enough so that they can also have a good-night sleep everyday and study for the classes.

-Sara Uzama