Sleep Disorders in College Students: How Much Does Sleep Impact Grades?

by Antony Han, MBS 2018

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Mentor: Brian Piper, PhD

A pressing issue affecting the millennial generation is how little sleep we get. We always hear about how our friends “pulled all-nighters” to cram for finals, or how some people work better at night and so forth. Having just graduated college, I have both personal experience and strong empirical evidence to support the notion that sleep does, in fact, impact your grades.

A recent study of 1,845 students analyzed sleep problems versus academic performance. The research revealed that many students are at risk of sleep disorders, with many of those students already at -- or close to -- academic failure. For example, among the students with obstructive sleep apnea, 30% were at risk of academic failure (<2.0 GPA).

Daytime sleepiness was proposed to be one possible mechanism impacting grades, the explanation being that fatigue made students unable to focus during class, creating a barrier to academic success. In my opinion, grades are a manifestation of memory consolidation. Therefore, anything that affects your ability to memorize things will change your grades, for better or worse.

From my own personal experience, I know that my academic potential was impacted to a large degree, by my poor sleep habits. I slept erratically, sometimes at 3 a.m., other times at 5 a.m. I almost always overslept. I skipped classes due to fatigue. I always tried to acquire the later time periods for courses because I knew that I could not consistently make it to the 8 a.m. classes. According to the DSM-5, I met the criteria for a moderately severe delayed phase shift disorder.

My freshman year grades were the worst of my entire college career. After that year, I was mentally devastated, disappointed, but, most importantly, determined -- determined to improve my sleep habits to improve my grades. Over time, I went to sleep around midnight and woke up around 7:30 a.m. every morning. My overall mood improved. I had more energy throughout the day. I could consistently eat breakfast every morning. While the lack of sleep may not have been the only factor involved in improving my performance, it was almost certainly one of the larger influences. Sleeping more consistently has allowed me to stop skipping meals. This was likely another reason for my overall energy increase throughout the day. Increased energy led to improved mood. Improved mood led to a better social life and less stress.

Some people are intellectually gifted enough to ace all of their classes even with sleep disorders. Others (such as myself) need good sleep and physical well-being to succeed. Academic success is a complex result of many different factors. We all lie somewhere on the spectrum of how many factors need to be satisfied before academic success can be reached. While I cannot definitively say that good sleep hygiene is the number one most impactful factor for your GPA, I can say that it is one that directly and indirectly affects many other facets of your life.


References:
Jane F. Gaultney (2010) The Prevalence of Sleep Disorders in College. Students: Impact on Academic Performance, Journal of American College Health, 59:2, 91-97, doi:10.1080/07448481.2010.483708


Please, watch the video on this topic!