Editorial: The value of sleep
Having a consistent sleep schedule may help boost your grades
For university students, sleep is a commodity. We spend most of our lives trying to balance our studies with our social lives and often our sleep time gets sacrificed in the process. We look forward to reading weeks, winter breaks, daylight savings—which just happened this past weekend—and long weekends, hoping that we can capitalize on a couple hours of extra sleep. And what’s the problem we face? Sleeping in once or twice will never make up for the countless all-nighters we’ve pulled over the course of the semester.
A study conducted by professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that there was a direct correlation between a student’s academic performance and the number of hours of sleep they’ve gotten—and unfortunately for a lot of us night owls, “getting a good night’s sleep just before a big test is not good enough—it takes several nights in a row of good sleep to make a difference.” To function at our best, especially academically, we need to be maintaining steady sleep schedules, as a well-rested student will surely be able to retain more course content than a student who can’t keep their eyes open in class!
So, this week at The Medium, we’re encouraging everyone to re-evaluate their sleep schedules. Schedule time for power naps, go to bed before 2 a.m., and sleep in once in a while! It pays to consider your health first, and taking the time to sleep properly is a big part of a healthy lifestyle.
