User Forum

(1) Sleep, considered a luxury by many, is essential for a person's wellbeing. Researchers have found that insufficient sleep increases the risk of developing severe medical conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Now, a new study by Boston's Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found that getting sufficient sleep is also the key to improve academic performance.
(2) They were not trying to find the correlation between sleep and grades when Fitbits to the 100 students were handed out. Instead, the professor hoped the popular wrist-worn device which, tracks a person's activity 24/7, would show a connection between physical exercise and academic achievement. As part of the research, a quarter of the participants were enrolled in an intense fitness class specially created for the study. After the semester ended, the researchers carefully analyzed the data. Much to their surprise, they found no measurable difference in test performance between the group that had been physically active and the group that had been sedentary.
(3) However, the study yielded a surprising insight. As the researchers were parsing through the large amount of data, they noticed an interesting trend emerging from the participants' sleep patterns. There was a straight-line relationship between the average amount of sleep a student got and his or her grades on the 11 quizzes, three midterms, and the final exam administered during the semester. Even more interesting, it was also not sufficient for students to just head to bed early the night before a test. We've heard the phrase Get a good night's sleep, you've got a big day tomorrow.' However, it turns out this does not correlate at all with test performance. Instead, it's the sleep you get during the days when learning is happening that matter most.
(4) The time students went to bed each night was similarly important. Those who went to bed in the early hours of the morning performed poorly, even if the total sleep time was the same as a higher-performing student. So, when you go to bed matters. If you get a certain amount of sleep — let's say 9 hours — no matter when you get that sleep, as long as it's before certain times. Say you go to bed between 10pm and 1am, your performance is the same but if you go to bed after two in the morning, your performance starts to go down even if you get the same nine hours so you should probably be asleep before then. So, quantity isn't everything. The research does not prove that sleep is the only factor that helps improve academic performance. However, the lead researcher says the results are a strong indication that sleep really matters. So, with teens estimated to need around 9 to 10 hours sleep a day and the average school goer getting up at 7 am, the results may suggest a bedtime of 9 or 10 at night. This can be shifted somewhat at the weekend if the student still gets their correct number of hours and can sleep in long enough to ensure the suggested amount of time and it also doesn't factor in having an afternoon sleep.