Sleep timing is more important than sleep length or quality for medical school performance

Abstract

Overwhelming evidence supports the importance of sleep for memory consolidation. Medical students are often deprived of sufficient sleep due to large amounts of clinical duties and university load, we therefore investigated how study and sleep habits influence university performance. We performed a questionnaire-based study with 31 medical students of the University of Munich (second and third clinical semesters; surgery and internal medicine). The students kept a diary (in 30-min bins) on their daily schedules (times when they studied by themselves, attended classes, slept, worked on their thesis, or worked to earn money). The project design involved three 2-wk periods (A: during the semester; B: directly before the exam period--pre-exam; C: during the subsequent semester break). Besides the diaries, students completed once questionnaires about their sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]), their chronotype (Munich Chronotype Questionnaire [MCTQ]), and their academic history (previous grades, including the previously achieved preclinical board exam [PBE]). Analysis revealed significant correlations between the actual sleep behavior during the semester (MS(diary); mid-sleep point averaged from the sleep diaries) during the pre-exam period and the achieved grade (p = 0.002) as well as between the grades of the currently taken exam and the PBE (p = 0.002). A regression analysis with MS(diary) pre-exam and PBE as predictors in a model explained 42.7% of the variance of the exam grade (effect size 0.745). Interestingly, MS(diary)--especially during the pre-exam period-was the strongest predictor for the currently achieved grade, along with the preclinical board exam as a covariate, whereas the chronotype did not significantly influence the exam grade.

Determinants of Sleep Quality among Undergraduate Students of Universities of Karachi

“…This is consistent with the results of a previous study (Lund et al, 2010). Prior studies also reported that later bedtimes are more likely to affect one's academic performance than short sleep duration (Genzel et al, 2013;Haraszti et al, 2014).…”

“…Sleep problems in university students might lead to suppressed academic performance (Genzel et al, 2013;Haraszti, Ella, Gyongyosi, Roenneberg, & Kaldi, 2014;Lund et al, 2010). One cannot remain refreshed and alert in university after insufficient or poor sleep the night before.…”

The Impact of Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation on Sleep–Wake Behavior: A Prospective Electrophysiological Study in 50 Parkinson Patients

“…interval between going-to-bed and get-up time and 'midpoint rest time', also known as 'midsleep time' as an internal circadian time marker. 23 We calculated daytime activity, e.g. averaged activity counts from leaving the bed in the morning till going to bed at night, as a measure of general daily activity.…”

Mister Sandman, bring me good marks! On the relationship between sleep quality and academic achievement

“…Last, some studies also report positive correlations between sleep quality or sleep duration on the one hand and grade point averages and exam passing probabilities on the other hand in tertiary education in China, Ethiopia, Germany and Portugal (Ahrberg et al, 2012;Genzel et al, 2013;Gomes, 2011;Lemma et al, 2014;Wong et al, 2012).…”