Staying up late and waking up early to study

Compromised sleep is always bad for your focus and concentration. And yet, the most popular study method is to study for long late/early hours before the exam.

If it isn’t obvious, let us look at what the research says.

• There is a clear association^[1] between compromised sleep and poor academic performance, especially^[2] if the workload is high.^[3]Even non-depressed students^[4] who have poor sleep tend to have poor grades.
• Poor sleep might create a vicious cycle^[5] between low academic performance and associated stress which further affects sleep quality.
• A study^[6] where sleep quality was measured against neurocognitive performance (all those thinking, attention, memory, decision-making skills) and academic performance shows that poor sleep causes a decline in academic performance & cognitive aspects of learning.
• A review^[7] of a large number of studies shows that poor sleep as a result of late sleeping and early rising negatively affects academic performance in school and college students.

Sleep is important for learning and memory just as much as it is for staying awake and alive. If you have trouble falling asleep or getting some good quality sleep, you should try out these techniques and/or visit a mental health professional.

Study tip: Sleep.