Students wishing to raise their grade point averages may want to stay in bed for a little longer.
Studying for hours well into the night before an exam, often called “cramming,” can hurt students’ grades, according to a recent study by the University of California, Los Angeles.
According to the study, cramming makes it difficult for students to understand learning materials due to lack of sleep.
“Lack of sleep contributes to forgetfulness, slow response time and depression,” Cal State Long Beach Health Resources Center Coordinator Heidi Burkey said. “A recent study even showed that sleeping after learning new material helps with memory retention.”
UCLA’s study revealed that students who sacrifice sleep struggle to understand and memorize class materials, regardless of how much time they spend studying. Conversely, it even showed that distributed studying, complemented by proper rest, will help students acquire new knowledge more effectively.
“One of the reasons is that during sleep, your brain is reorganizing the materials learned during the day into more appropriate locations of the brain,” Burkey said. “Getting a good night’s sleep on a daily basis is important. Making up for it on the weekend does not solve the problem. It has to be continuous to get the best results.”
The study also concluded that students who sleep less than five hours per night on a regular basis tend to have lower GPAs.
A study by the University of Minnesota Undergraduate Journal of Psychology showed similar results; in their study, students who slept more had higher GPAs.
According to the National Institute of Health’s website, experts believe that neurons used while the human body is awake are shut down and repaired during deep sleep.
Without sleep, those neurons are likely to be heavily depleted or polluted, leading the body to malfunction.
Additionally, the brain generates and produces delta waves when a body accesses the deepest state of sleep. Delta waves are known to reduce cortisol, a hormone released to kill brain cells when a person is under stress.
CSULB alumna Brittany Lopez said most students already understand the consequences of cramming, but busy schedules and procrastination make late night studying inevitable for many.
“Students cram for exams because of timing issues,” Lopez said. “A lot of them are too busy with work, and sometimes they need to cram so the learning materials can stay fresh in their heads without them forgetting what they learned months ago.”
However, Burkey said that students can avoid having to cram for exams by utilizing time wisely.
“Prioritizing sleep into your schedule may seem difficult, but utilizing your time more efficiently during the day may make it easier to do just that,” Burkey said. “Instead of waiting until the last minute to study or write a paper all night, start earlier and get a head start.”