Running Head: SLEEP AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 1

Effects of Sleeplessness on College Students and their Academic Performance

Jasmine Crook, Emma Seybert, Trey Walden, Caitlin Leger

04/03/2017

Nursing 3749: Nursing Research

Dr. Hoysen, Mrs. Kent-Strollo

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate eight research articles and to review how each article

conducted studies to find the relationship between sleep and academic performance in college

students. Although all the articles seem to agree that there is a positive correlation between the hours

a night spent sleeping and a better academic performance, each article uses different sample sizes and

methods to test these results. Most articles found a relationship between the length of hours spent

sleeping a night and the overall academic performance, while others focused solely on total sleep

time (TST) over the course of a week and how these hours effected overall GPA at the end of a

semester. Broken down even further, a few of the articles split sleep into three categories including

short term sleep or less than six hours a night spent sleeping, partial or average sleep which is

between seven and eight hours of sleep, or long term sleep which is nine or more hours in a 24-hour

period. Overall, all articles reach the conclusion that sleeping a longer amount as well as going to

sleep earlier each night benefits students in positive ways by increasing their attention span, memory,

and overall attitude.

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Effects of Sleeplessness on College Students and their Academic Performance

College is a difficult time for many students. Between balancing academia, a social life, a full-

time or part-time jobs for some students, and studying it can be hard to find time to do even the

simplest things. For some students one of these simple things includes sleep. Many students find

themselves in the early hours of the morning cramming for tests, finishing essays, working out, or

getting ready for their busy days. This hinders the body’s natural need for sleep to regenerate from

the day before. When continuous nights of sleeplessness build upon each other, exhaustion can occur

taking a huge toll on the body. Memory functioning decreases, the ability to focus becomes harder,

and irritability becomes inevitable. These students are more likely to have lower GPA’s and struggle

more academically. Because of this dilemma research was done to answer the question: Does sleep

deprivation influence academic performance in college students over their academic career?

Literature Review

Introduction

When analyzing this type of topic among college students, several sources were used including:

The National Center for Biotechnology Information, The Journal of American College Health, The

College Journal, International Journal of the Science and Practice of Sleep Medicine, The Journal of

College Student Psychotherapy, The University of Minnesota Undergraduate Journal of

Psychology,and eBSCOhost. Each of the eight sources focuses on the negative impacts that a lack of

sleep has on the body and how those effects cause a dramatic difference in academic performance.

Methods

Each study analyzed sleep a bit differently, but overall, they shared a similar format. The

National Center for Biotechnology Information compiled 867 subjects from a variety of ethnic
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backgrounds. They included, “70% Caucasian, 13% African American, 11% Hispanic, and 6% Asian

/Pacific Island. Freshman accounted for 40% of the sample, 28% were sophomores, 19% were

juniors, and 14% were seniors” (Taylor, D. J., Vatthauer, K. E., Bramoweth, A. D., Ruggero, C., &

Roane, B, 2013, p. 159-161). This study tried to represent what they considered the most typical

college students to give their study the most unbiased outcomes. A large sample size and diverse

population within the sample helps to create an environment similar to the everyday college life

which made the study more realistic.

Other studies like The College Journal used smaller sample size, including only 148

undergraduate students ranging from ages 18 to 42. This smaller sample size makes the study a bit

more specific, but doesn’t allow for as accurate information. However, The College Journal used a

method reported by previous studies done in the past where, “short sleepers were defined as those

who reported sleeping an average of 6 or fewer hours per night. Average sleepers endorsed sleeping

7-8 hours per night. Long sleepers reported sleeping 9 or more hours per night” (Kelly, W. E., Kelly,

K. E., & Clanton, R. C. 2001, pg. 74-75). By breaking each student down into what “sleep category”

they fit into, the researchers were able to get a very good picture of how the students actually slept at

night. This showed the difference between length of sleep each night and helped them compare time

sleeping versus academic performance. The BMC Reference Notes uses a different approach by

addressing students via their actual grades on an A-B scale. The study excludes students with B

averages, D averages, and F averages, solely focusing on students with A and C averages and

comparing the two, “this study aimed to encompass all the students in the fifth and sixth classes who

are A (excellent) and C (pass) in the previous semester… those with the score B (good) and D (fail)

were excluded” (Mirghani, H. O., Mohammed, O. S., Almurtadha, Y. M., & Ahmed, M. S., 2005, pg.

81). Although this could’ve limited the sample size, it took a more comparative look at students who
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were doing well versus students who were preforming at an average academic level and how their

academics compared directly to their sleeping patterns.

A study from The Journal of American College Health used an interesting questionnaire

called the SLEEP-50. The study takes an intricate approach to questioning students about their sleep

patterns,“the SLEEP-50 has been validated for college students. It consists of 50 items that tap a

variety of sleep characteristics. The validation sample included 377 college students, 342 patients

with sleep disorders, 32 individuals who experienced nightmares, and 44 healthy controls. The

results indicated good internal consistency (Chronbach's alpha = .85), and test–retest reliability

ranged from .65 to .89. Scales and cut-off scores for several sleep disorders were developed, and

sensitivity and specificity values identified for each scale. To each item (eg, “I am told I snore.”) the

student indicated that it was “not at all” (1), “somewhat” (2), “rather much” (3), or “very much” (4)

true.” (Gaultney, J. F, 2010, pg. 295-296). This study focuses on the length and quality of sleep each

student gets and different factors effecting sleep. By determining these factors they can compare the

academic performance and decide which part of sleep patterns cause the student to do well or not.

Overall each study encompasses their own techniques to test their hypothesis that sleep is important

for academic performance. Even though their methods vary, they all correlate the positivity of a good

night of sleep and an increased academic performance.

Results

Each study proposed its own hypothesis but when it came to the end results they all pretty

much agreed on one thing: sleep should be an essential part in the life of any college student. Not

only did each study find that students who slept more did better, but they also found that the more the

student slept, the better they did creating a positive correlation. The BMC Reference Notes found that

poor sleep quality had only been found in 24 of the 65(36%) excellent students, whereas poor sleep
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quality affected 71 of the 75(94.6%) of the passing students. The “excellent students” were the ones

who received A’s or better and the “passing students” averaged C’s. The Journal of American

College Health stated similar results in their study claiming, “grade point average was significantly

but weakly correlated with the amount of sleep prior to school/work with a different score indicating

that students who got more sleep before school/work and those who reported more consistent sleep

schedules had higher grades. Although significant these correlations are still small and should be

interpreted cautiously” (Gaultney, 2010, pg. 93). The Journal of American College Health focused on

1,845 people. A study this extensive with results like these shows a clear correlation between sleep

and academic performance. Though, they even noted that this correlation, although weak, is very

significant. The amount of sleep students get clearly impacts their academic performance. According

to Kelly et al (2001), previous studies believed that short sleepers were more ambitious, driven, and

more healthy overall compared to longer sleepers who were considered nervous and oftentimes more

depressed. Their results, however, found that of the 76% of “long sleepers” who reported their GPA

and the 61% of “average or short sleepers” significantly higher GPAs were reported among students

who claimed they were long sleepers. Contrary to what they originally believed, they found that the

short sleepers are actually less ambitious and driven; that they, in fact, do much worse in school.

They believed this was due to those who classified as “short sleepers” having shorter attention spans

and a decreased amount of focus in comparison to those who slept longer (Kelly et al, 2001, pg. 85).

Similarly, Eliasson et al, 2010, found that students with earlier bedtimes and wake times did

better academically. Interestingly, they also found that students who performed better academically

also took more naps throughout the day. They found overall, students who slept more throughout the

day, went to bed earlier, and woke up earlier did better. Comparatively, however, Taylor et al.

(2013), found that, “later bed and wake times and increased nap taking were related to lower
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cumulative GPAs as were greater variability in bed time, wake time, total sleep time, sleep

efficiency, sleep onset, latency, and napping. Conversely greater sleep efficiency was related to

higher cumulative GPAs” (Taylor et al, 2013, pg. 162-163). By comparison to Eliasson’s study,

students who napped during the day were found to have a lower GPA, this contradicts information in

Eliasson’s study stating an increase in naps increased GPA. This is a small deviation, but notable

when comparing the studies overall.

In the study conducted by Gilbert and Weaver (2010), researchers studied what they referred

to as the Global Sleep Quality Score (GSQ). This measures subject quality, latency, duration,

habitual sleep efficiency, disturbance, medication use, and daytime dysfunction as they relate to

sleep. These are then added together to create this global score. Overall the score ranges from zero to

21. The higher the score, the worse the sleep quality (Gilbert and Weaver, 2010, pg. 296-297). While

testing this Global Sleep Quality Score, they found, “a significant negative correlation between

Global Sleep Quality and GPA (Gilbert, 2010, pg 297). This supported their original hypotheses that

a lower sleep quality (indicated by a higher GSQ) is directly related to a decreased academic

performance. Each of these studies, although different all seemed to reach this same hypothesis,

regardless of the sample size or method used. However, while they all came to the same conclusion

something not factored into these studies was the reason causing these sleep deficits. The time these

college students spend “not sleeping” could be spend doing a million different things, whether that be

studying, partying, working, cleaning, etc. These studies should have included a part in their

questionnaires that asked the reason for the decrease in sleep hours. Another point that could have

been included in these studies is whether or not the students within the studies had any type of

learning disorder. This could greatly affect how a student does in class regardless of their sleep

patterns. While this would not have completely altered the results, it may have made the studies more
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specific. Although this was not factored in, the studies were still in overwhelming agreement that an

increased level of sleep throughout the week and semester caused a better GPA due to more

restfulness.

Conclusion

While analyzing sleep patterns in college students and answering the question does sleep

deprivation influence academic performance in college students over their academic career, it’s

important to take a look at the overall function of sleep. While students who slept better and longer

attained higher grades, they also were less irritable and more focused during their classes and exams.

Some data was not as strong as others, but all of the studies agreed that an increased in the number of

hours of sleep a night directly correlates in a positive manner with a higher cumulative GPA over the

length of the college career. It’s unclear if mental illnesses, caffeine, or extracurricular activities

played a role in lack of sleep or not, but it is clear that overall, students need an increased amount of

sleep hours to maintain a higher GPA.

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References

Eliasson, A. H., Lettieri, C. J., & Eliasson, A. H. (2010). Early to bed, early to rise! Sleep

habits and academic performance in college students. Sleep and Breathing, 14(1), 71-75.

Gaultney, J. F., (2010, September 23) The Prevalence of Sleep Disorders in College Students:

Impact on Academic Performance. Journal of American College Health, 59 (2), 91-97

Gilbert, S. P., & Weaver, C. C. (2010). Sleep Quality and Academic Performance in University

Students: A Wake-Up Call for College Psychologists. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy,

24(4), 295-306

Kelly, W. E., Kelly, K. E., & Clanton, R. C. (2001). The relationship between sleep length and

grade-point average among college students. College Student Journal, 35(1), 84-86.

Lowry, M., Dean, K., Manders, K. (2010) The Link Between Sleep Quantity And Academic

Performance for the College Student. The University of Minnesota Undergraduate Journal of

Psychology, (3) 16-19

Mirghani, H. O., Mohammed, O. S., Almurtadha, Y. M., & Ahmed, M. S. (2015). Good sleep

quality is associated with better academic performance among Sudanese medical students. BMC

Research Notes, 81-5.

Otenyo, J. K., (2015). Sleeping Habits and Sleep Deprivation Among College

Students.University of Arizona, 3-43

Taylor, D. J., Vatthauer, K. E., Bramoweth, A. D., Ruggero, C., & Roane, B. (2013). The role

of sleep in predicting college academic performance: Is it a unique predictor?. Behavioral sleep

medicine, 11(3), 159-172.