Should i keep studying or sleep

Acknowledgments We thank everyone who participated in this study. References 1. Sleep Med. Joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society on the recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: Methodology and discussion.

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Hershner S, Chervin R. Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Prichard JR. Sleep predicts collegiate academic performance: Implications for equity in student retention and success. Sleep quality during exam stress: The role of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. Chronic stress undermines the compensatory sleep efficiency increase in response to sleep restriction in adolescents.

Sleep patterns and predictors of disturbed sleep in a large population of college students. Stress and sleep quality in high school Brazilian adolescents.

Neurobiology is a first year semiannual course, and almost students As students took the test, they were randomly distributed in four different shifts see schedule in Table 1.

Two hundred fifty two students agreed to participate Table 1 , representing the The number of correct answers of each participant was provided by the course teachers. Mean age was Regular reported sleep duration was 6. Sleep duration and pattern were modified the night before taking the General Biology test Table 1 , Fig 1A. Sleep duration was reduced in 2. Among sleepers, sleep onset was delayed in 1.

The delay in sleep onset was generated by an estimated delay of 1. A logit regression was used to study the association between the correct answer rate and sleep duration. Regular sleep was associated with the ratio of correct answers, and an hour increase in sleep duration was associated with a Sleep duration before the test was also a significant predictor, and an hour increase in sleep duration was associated with a The predicted correct answer rate was Sleep pattern among students that reported sleeping before the test from a School of Science survey 1 ; b four test shifts in School of Psychology survey 2.

Sleep patterns are represented from Mean sleep onset to Mean sleep end red lines represent the Standard Deviation for regular-days sleep red and for the night before the test white. Gray and white areas indicate photoperiod calculated from sunrise and sunset on the day before the test. Start time of the test is indicated below. Survey 2 sample was also biased towards females Mean sleep duration on regular nights was 7. Among participants, The night before the test sleep duration was reduced: sleep in shift was reduced in 3.

All-nighters were Sleep pattern was also modified the night before the test Fig 1B. This delay in sleep onset emerged from a delay in the bedtime of 1. The association between the correct answer rate with the sleep duration and the test shift was studied using a logit regression model.

However, an hour increase in sleep duration before the test was associated with a 3. Paired comparisons using Tukey adjustment showed a significant increase in the odd of correct answers in shift Mean number of hours spent studying before the test was 8. Although these issues have been addressed in previous reports [ 23 , 24 , 31 , 32 ], this is the first study to explore how sleep patterns of the night before the test change when the test is taken at different times survey 2.

In addition, sleep duration was positively correlated with the number of correct answers in the test, and therefore with school grades. When analyzing these effects across shifts survey 2 , we found that sleep duration and academic performance improved as test start times were delayed.

The rate of students with short regular sleep was higher and mean sleep duration was shorter in students of School of Science survey 1 than in students of the Psychology School survey 2 , probably because the former were younger than the latter [ 37 ]. Similar values of sleep deprivation were previously reported in Uruguayan university students [ 38 ], and this should be a matter of concern based on the multiple consequences of chronic inadequate sleep [ 14 — 17 ].

Taking the test had a strong influence in the night before sleep behavior of students, a pattern that has been previously described using both actigraphy data and questionnaires in young students [ 23 , 24 ]. We confirmed this general pattern in the present study as students of both surveys delayed their time to go to bed the night before the test in about 1 h, regardless of test start times. Several previous studies reported a positive association between regular sleep duration and grades [ 32 , 39 — 42 ], while others highlight the importance of regular sleep quality, rather than duration, on academic performance [ 39 , 40 , 43 , 44 ].

We observed an association of regular sleep duration and test performance only in survey 1, as the odds ratio of correct answers increased with sleep duration. Sleep duration on the night before the test did predict test performance in survey 2, and was a better predictor of performance in survey 1 compared to regular sleep.

In Uruguay, grades use a non-linear scale from 0 to This complexity of the Uruguayan grading system prevented us from using grades in regressions. However, in both surveys when predicted correct answer rate was converted to grades 8 h-sleepers obtained a passing grade while all-nighters did not.

Scullin [ 45 ] found a similar result using actigraphy data and showing that long-sleep students outperform short-sleep students in tests scores. In survey 2, we found that the sleep duration of the night before the test increased as test start time was delayed.

A previous study in Brazilian undergraduate students attending school in different shifts found a similar pattern [ 13 ]: sleep duration was longer in students of the afternoon-shift with respect to morning-shift ones.

The enhanced performance of late-shift students is more likely due to their longer sleep duration and not to the time spent studying the day before the test, which was not significantly different across shifts. In addition to longer sleep durations, chronotype-associated differences in performance may also contribute to the differences observed between shifts [ 50 , 51 ]. To address this issue in the future, we plan to add the assessment of Morningness-Eveningness in students of the Psychology School taking tests in different shifts.

Our study has several limitations. Self-report questionnaires may overestimate sleep duration compared to objective measures [ 52 ], and short sleep prevalence may be even higher than reported among Uruguayan college students. Although data were collected immediately after the test to prevent memory blurring, future studies should include more objective measures to confirm our results.

A previous study using actigraphy data found a similar pattern of sleep reduction during exam period [ 45 ]. Sleep disturbance and reduced performance may be both associated with the high levels of anxiety prior to a test [ 53 ]. However, we did not observe an increase in sleep latency before the test, a measure that has been related to anxiety levels [ 14 , 54 ]. In this study, we show that many college students reported not getting enough sleep.

Although delaying school and tests start times has been related to longer sleep duration and better academic performance, it seems not enough. These evidence should inspire educational policies and promote an open communication of the impact of sleep on learning and of the consequences of reduced sleep duration. We thank everyone who participated in this study.

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Please clarify on line whether you can conclude about students' lack of sleep or their reported lack of sleep. Please provide additional details regarding participant consent. Teens who stay up late at night cramming are more likely to have academic problems the following day — doing poorly on the test they studied for — finds a new study by University of California, Los Angeles UCLA , researchers. Since students increasingly give up sleep for studying as they get older, the researchers say the problem compounds over time.

The study involved students from Los Angeles high schools. That would go a long way in helping them to focus in class and could even prevent depression, a condition increasingly linked to lack of sleep. For kids who have trouble falling asleep, parents should teach them relaxation techniques like taking deep breaths and listening to slow tempo music — that helps the neurons fall into their synchronized pattern quicker.

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