ERIC Number: EJ1200101
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Jan
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0098-6283
EISSN: N/A
The Eight Hour Sleep Challenge during Final Exams Week
Scullin, Michael K.
Teaching of Psychology, v46 n1 p55-63 Jan 2019
Many students and educators know that sleep is important to learning, yet there exists a gap between their knowledge and behavior. For example, fewer than 10% of students sleep 8 hr before final exams. In the context of two undergraduate courses on sleep (N = 34), students could earn extra credit if they averaged =8.0 hr of sleep during final exams week. Sleep/wake patterns were monitored objectively using actigraphy. The 24 students who opted in to the challenge averaged 8.5 hr of sleep (n = 17 succeeded). Short sleep (=6.9 hr) occurred on only 11% of nights, significantly less than early-semester baseline (51%) and comparison group (65%) data. On the final exam, students who slept =8.0 hr performed better than students who opted out or slept =7.9 hr, even after controlling for prefinal grades. The 8-hr sleep challenge provides proof of principle that many students can maintain optimal sleep while studying, without sacrificing test performance.
Descriptors: Sleep, Undergraduate Students, Tests, Course Descriptions, Psychology, Academic Achievement, Study Habits, Correlation, Measurement, Student Behavior, Behavior Change, Incentives, Stress Variables, Course Content
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institute on Aging (DHHS/NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: AG053161