How irregular sleep patterns affect academic performance

Getting a good night’s sleep the night before an exam is not enough. What matters most is getting a good night’s sleep during the days when learning occurs.

The relationship between a stable sleep pattern and optimal academic performance is already a popular concept. It is well known that the higher the quality of sleep, the higher the productivity both in academic disciplines, as well as in sports and social disciplines. A paper published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, focused on the benefits of this lifestyle, showed that better rest is associated with the favorable performance of our cognitive functions and learning processes.

Although the exact mechanisms behind sleep, memory and neuroplasticity are still unknown, there is already prior knowledge that gives sleep a crucial role in memory consolidation. This is caused by the strengthening of brain synaptic connections during rest.

In addition to the benefits behind a healthy sleep routine, the consequences of a contrary lifestyle have also been analyzed. A deficit in rest causes damage in areas such as concentration, school performance and socialization skills. This inconsistency is regularly found among adolescents and young adults who follow a propensity to owe hours of sleep during academic days, and to supplement excessively on weekends. The effects behind this irregular and insufficient rest lead to increased fatigue and stress. In addition, such is the damage that, according to the scientific journal Nature, it has been shown that a person who has remained in a state of wakefulness for a period of 17 hours without pause, presents the same cognitive performance as someone with a concentration of 0.05 percent blood alcohol. 

Although this topic of interest has been scrutinized for more than a century, the MIT study published in the Science of Learning Journal reveals surprising data about the role of healthy rest in academic performance. Jeffrey Grossman, a professor at this institution, provided a Fitbit, a device worn on the wrist to monitor personal activity, to 100 of his students in his class for an entire semester. This with the purpose of keeping a comparative count between the school’s performance in tests and the sleep patterns of each student.

The results of this investigation yielded predictable data on the importance of a regular rest schedule. Those students with the greatest inconsistency in their sleep pattern were associated with the lowest grades, and those students with the highest quality of rest obtained the best academic productivity. Therefore, it was revealed that a longer duration, quality and consistency of rest are related to better school performance. One of the best things to help with the bar exam or other exam preparation is to get lots of sleep.

One of the most notable aspects of this research was the use of a quantifiable and objective alternative for the collection of sleep data, compared to other studies that had used alterable methods such as surveys and questionnaires. Thanks to factors like this, it was possible to conclude relevant and new information about sleep and its effect on student performance.

For example, an effort to get adequate rest the night before an exam was found to have no bearing on desired performance. “It turns out that this does not correlate at all with test performance,” Professor Grossman said. “Instead, what matters most is the sleep you get during the learning days.” Therefore, a healthy sleep pattern during the period in which the topics to be studied are analyzed is the necessary helping factor for good memory and cognitive performance.

In addition, it was found that students who slept seven hours and began their rest between 10 p.m. m. and 1 a.m., show a better performance at school than those who slept the same number of hours, but after 2 a.m., deducing that, rather than quantity in the dream, a decisive aspect is quality.

This study, in addition to offering clarity in unknown areas of sleep and school performance, also yielded relevant information on the difference in performance between men and women. It was found that of the participants who took part in the research, women performed higher in academic grades. While some studies point to aspects such as self-discipline, this research mentions a necessary correction in sleep and the suggestion to encourage healthy rest even more in male students.

In response to the data found by these investigations, a movement has been started that seeks to take care of sleep in students, as well as physical and mental health. In such a way is the attention now directed to this area of ​​health before relegated, that in some school districts such as California, United States, where school schedules have been modified and traveled, this with the aim of promoting a style and quality better life. This element, in its full development, would allow university students (and other school levels) to keep track of their rest and proportionally of their academic performance.