Will forgoing sleep lead to better grades?

1. Will forgoing sleep lead to better
grades?
PSYC001 Introduction to Psychology
G3
Chan Chun Yin Glen
S8851261H
Professor: Ivy Lau

2. PSYC001 Introduction to Psychology Prepared for Professor Ivy Lau
Introduction
Examinations test students‟ competencies, such as knowledge and skill of the subject. It
requires students to memorize facts, analyze information and tackle problems. As studies
have shown, some of the skills required to succeed in examinations are being affected by
sleep durations.According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need 7 - 9 hours of sleep
every night. University students fall into that category. Based on a study, they should be
spending approximately one-third of their day sleeping. Do they really get that much sleep?
University students are facing mounting pressures due to ever-increasing competition in
today‟s globalized world. In order to meet the expectations of others, they may push
themselves to study harder in order to attain a certain standard of grades. Such burdens cause
students to „burn the midnight oil‟ and forgo sleep, especially when examinations are nearing.
Some might even follow the study habits of most of their peers whom they view as successful
role models. One of these study habits include forgoing sleep to study.
Hence, we see news articles titled “SleepLESS in Singapore” (The Straits Times, 2007) and
“Getting A‟s and B‟s but not Z‟s: College students get less sleep, study finds” (The Jambar,
2008). They all point to the fact that students are not getting adequate sleep. One such reason
for this phenomenon is due to students sleeping late in order to study for
examinations.However, does this necessarily lead to better grades owing to the fact that more
time is spent studying?
Past Research/ Empirical Findings
There are consistent results showing that lower grades were associated with shorter sleep
duration. The studies below associate sleep with memory and cognitive performance.
Memory
Upon receiving information, our Short-term memory (STM) holds the information and stores
it briefly until it is coded for storage in our Long-term memory (LTM). Within the first few
minutes of sleep, information is beingtransferred from the hippocampus to the neocortex.
After 40 minutes of sleep, there would have been a significant amount of information being
transferred and stored so that they could not be unsettled by new information entering the
hippocampus (Diekelmann S, 2010). A study done by Susanne Diekelmann put volunteers
through memory tests. The first group was asked to sleep after memorizing cards depicting
animals and common objects, while the other group was kept awake after memorizing. The

3. PSYC001 Introduction to Psychology Prepared for Professor Ivy Lau
results showed that subjects lacking that phrase of quality sleep performed poorly when asked
to recall the information, as compared to the first group.
New pieces of information which are stored in the hippocampus do not gel immediately.
From the above study, we can see that memories hold better during sleep. Sleeping can have
positiveeffects on memory consolidation. This is useful for students studying for
examinations which require them to recall large amounts of information.
Cognitive Performance
Cognition refers to the process of thinking. It involves the processing of information and
application of knowledge. Pilcher and Waltersconducted a study to test whether sleep
deprived university students had worse cognitive performance as compared to students with 8
hours of sleep. The study used the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal to test their
cognitive abilities. The results were consistent with their hypothesis. Sleep deprived students
performed significantly worse in the test. Interestingly, the subjects who had a lack of sleep
felt that they performed better than others (Pilcher &Walters, 1997).
We can infer that university students have the impression that they will achieve better grades
when they forgo sleep in order to study for a longer duration. This tells us that students may
not be very good at judging the effectiveness of their own study habits.This misconception
negatively impacts their ability to perform cognitive tasks. As such, human intuitions may not
be the best guide to optimize learning, nor are popular practices (sleeping late to study) done
by the general student population. Students need adequate sleep to remain alert in order to
analyze and attempt exam questions.
Conclusion
As we have seen, sleep deprivation does have significant effects on the abilities of students
taking exams. Students getting enough sleep will be able to strengthen recent memories,
organize new information and analyze the information in a constructive manner to excel in
their examinations. Students are at risk of getting examination phobia with the higher levels
of stress and anxiety caused by sleep deprivation. Moreover, it is proven that a lack of sleep
increases a person‟s risk of getting depression, which may lead to suicide if left
untreated.Perhaps, students should study consistently andavoid studying at the eleventh hour
as thatusually leads to a lack of sleep when they try to cramp a great deal of information
within a short period of time.

4. PSYC001 Introduction to Psychology Prepared for Professor Ivy Lau
References
1. The Straits Times. (2008). SleepLESS in Singapore. Retrieved from
http://www.asiaone.com/Health/Wellness+%2540+Work/Story/A1Story20070625-
15642.html
2. The Jambar. (2007). Getting A’s and B’s but not Z’s: College students get less sleep,
study finds. Retrieved from
http://media.www.thejambar.com/media/storage/paper324/news/2008/03/06/News/Gettin
g.As.And.Bs.But.Not.Zs.College.Students.Get.Less.Sleep.Study.Finds-3259467.shtml
3. Diekelmann S, Born J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nat Rev Neurosci,
11(2):114-26.
4. Pilcher, J. J., & Walters, A. S. (1997). How sleep deprivation affects psychological
variables related to college students' cognitive performance. Journal of the American
College Health, 46 (3), 121-126