LAUSR

Sleep loss can cause various kinds of behavioral and psychological problems. It has been reported that sleep loss may even influence academic performance. To examine the relationship between nighttime sleep and academic performance, we conducted a questionnaire study targeting university students majoring in social sciences. To recruit undergraduates for participation, we selected a few psychology-related classes at a university in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, and went to the classroom to ask the students to respond to a questionnaire that dealt with nighttime sleep and grade point average (GPA) as a measure of their academic performance. We approached 116 students, of whom 109 consented to participate and completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the final sample was 20.11 years old. The participants were divided into six groups: three groups based on grade and two based on sex. A two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that students with worse grades reported significantly shorter sleep durations than those with intermediate and better grades. It is also suggested that the male students with better grades tended to report delayed sleep schedules, that is, a later bedtime and waking time, compared to the two other male groups, while the females with better grades did not. The finding strongly suggests that sleep duration may affect the academic performance of undergraduates. Sufficient sleep may result in a better academic performance and might improve the quality of our lives. In this regard, the results may be consistent with a previous study targeted high school students (Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998). In sleep hygiene education, the students should be taught to have enough sleep in every night. In addition, the finding also suggets that the Japanese male students with better grades may have a tendency to stay up late to study more, while the female with better grades may not.