By Alexis Benjamin
Research has shown that sleep does more than effect physical health. Sleeping for at least eight hours a night impacts a person’s mood and how they behave as well as their ability to carry out a daily task or challenge.
In the recent study, 47 college students in London kept track of the hours of sleep they had per night throughout one week. Each student had a sleep diary. The average report was 7.08 hours of sleep.
The research also involved the students taking the School Sleep Habits Survey. The survey includes 63 questions about everyday sleepiness, problem behaviors, a depressive mood scale, and whether the student feels more awake in the morning or at night.
Grade point average and sleep patterns were compared. Higher success in schoolwork found to be in positive correlation with early bedtimes and longer time spent sleeping.
“Optimal sleep quality and duration has been associated with better academic performance and behavioral regulation throughout lifespan development,” according to the study.
The study also looked at other environmental sleep factors see if it made a change in the results. Therefore, the same 47 students also too the Background Lifestyle and Medical Questionnaire to make note of caffeine intake, smoking, social media use, use of video games, and exercise.
Research suggests low caffeine intake later in the day and to set aside electronic devices 30 minutes before bed in order for your brain to relax.
Courteney Mincy, a Florida State University strength and speed coach, keeps track of the student athletes’ habits inside and outside of practice. Student athletes have lower energy levels during practices and games and their grades typically go down if they do not sleep for at least eight hour on average.
“Through a sleep monitoring tool, we have seen that obtaining the proper amount of sleep is vital to the academic performance of our soccer athletes at Florida State University,” Mincy said.
Kelly Melend, a student at FSU, is one year away from graduation. Melend uses a sleep-tracking app on her iPhone in order to know whether or not she gets the recommended hours of rest each night.
“Sleep is a big deal to me. If I don’t get enough sleep the night before an exam, I can hardly focus enough to take the test,” Melend said.
