New Research Finds That Early Morning College Classes Are Linked To Poor Sleep And Lower Grades
According to a new study published in Nature Human Behavior, college students might get better grades if classes began later in the day.
In recent years, growing amounts of research have found that postponing high school start times will reduce sleepiness among students during school hours by increasing the amount of sleep students get at night.
But, there was mixed evidence regarding whether later start times also had a positive effect on grades.
So, researchers from Duke-NUS’ Neuroscience & Behavioral Disorders Program set out to research this impact– specifically among college students.
They used students’ WiFi connection data, login information to university digital learning platforms, and activity data collected via special sensing watches to launch a massive study– ultimately monitoring the sleep behavior and class attendance of tens of thousands of college students in Singapore.
“We implemented new methods that allow large-scale monitoring of class attendance and sleep behavior by analyzing students’ classroom WiFi connection data and their interactions with digital learning platforms,” explained Dr. Yeo Sing Chen, the study’s first author.
Then, after analyzing that data, the team found that earlier class start times were linked with lower attendance– since many students regularly slept through them.
Plus, when students did show up for an early class, they lost approximately one hour of sleep. And having more morning classes throughout the school week was even associated with lower grade point averages.
According to Associate Professor Joshua Gooley, this reality is simply counterintuitive.
Suzi Media – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“If the goal of formal education is to position our students to succeed in the classroom and workforce, why are we forcing many university students into the bad decision of either skipping morning class to sleep more or attending class while sleep-deprived?” Gooley asked.
“The take-home message from our study is that universities should reconsider mandatory early morning classes.”
The study included 23,391 students, in which the researchers used WiFi connection insights to determine whether or not early classes were linked with lower attendance rates.
Afterward, the researchers compared this data against six weeks of activity data collected via special sensing watches from a subset group of 181 students. This helped them determine whether the students were continuing to sleep rather than attending early classes.
The team also analyzed the activity data against the day and night digital learning platform login patterns of 39,458 students to figure out if early classes were linked to waking up earlier and receiving less sleep.
Finally, the researchers analyzed 33,818 students’ grades– as well as the number of morning classes they were enrolled in– to determine whether class start time impacted the grade point average.
Equipped with the results of this study, the researchers are now working on comparing the differences between early birds and night owls in terms of sleep, class attendance, academic performance, and overall well-being.
“We expect to find that evening-type students will be at a learning disadvantage in early morning classes and have lower class attendance, shorter sleep, poorer mental health, and lower grades compared with their peers,” Gooley hypothesized.
To read the study’s complete findings, visit the link here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe
He’s Sharing His Mom’s Secret Brisket Recipe, Which Is Perfect For Easter Dinner
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Science