I know you know sleep is important for health, but what about its impact on our cognitive performance?
MIT researchers put fitness trackers on 100 students, measured their sleep patterns, and analyzed the relationship between sleep and exam performance.
It might be no surprise that better quality, longer duration, and consistent sleep correlate with better grades.
Sleep accounted for nearly 25% of the variance in academic performance!
What was interesting was that there was no correlation between sleep the night before and the exam results. Instead, the sleep in the month and week up to the exam is what counted. Bottom line, consistency trumps one-offs.
What’s also interesting is that sleep duration strongly correlated with the results. And sleep quality even has a stronger correlation (the researchers determined this from the wearers’ heart-rate variability, which fluctuates during transitions between different stages of sleep).
So to make it count, get your 7-8 hours in, and make them good ones!
How? Here are some tips:
- Get your screens in night mode after dark and off well before bed. Even better, make your bedroom a phone-free location (a phone alarm outside the door is also a great way to force yourself up in the morning).
- Make your bedroom associated with sleep; do your Netflix on the sofa.
- Keep the temperature slightly on the cooler side; you’ll get a better rest that way.
- Don’t eat within the few hours before sleeping time; the process of digestion will make it harder to fall and stay asleep.
- Caffeine has a “half-life” of 5 hours, so even coffee after lunch will still have a lot of residual caffeine in your bloodstream at night. So get yours in the morning if you’re a java junkie.
- Craft a sleep routine that trains you to start winding down in a consistent way and at a consistent time. Some elements that work well are stretching, self-massage, and deep breathing. If you’re into essential oils, they also can work well. Savor the feeling of gently winding down, caring for yourself, and preparing for the land of nod… (yawn)
Good night!
– Joel
