Pulling All-Nighters May Drag Grades Down

(AP)  Students who rely on all-nighters to bring up their grades might want to sleep on that strategy: A new survey says those who never study all night have slightly higher GPAs than those who do.

A survey of 120 students at St. Lawrence University, a small liberal arts college in northern New York, found that students who have never pulled an all-nighter have average GPAs of 3.2, compared to 2.95 for those who have. The study, by assistant professor of psychology Pamela Thacher, is to be included in the January issue of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.

"It's not a big difference, but it's pretty striking," Thacher said. "I am primarily a sleep researcher and I know nobody thinks clearly at 4 in the morning. You think you do, but you can't."

A second study by Thacher, a clinical psychologist, had "extremely similar" results showing lower grades among the sleep skippers.

Many college students, of course, have inadequate or irregular sleep, for reasons ranging from excessive caffeine to poor time management.

Prav Chatani, a St. Lawrence sophomore who wasn't involved in either study, said the findings made sense. The neuroscience major has been pulling fewer all-nighters, but recently stayed up all night to prepare for an organic chemistry test and a neuroscience presentation, he said.

He had difficulty remembering some of the material he studied around 4 or 5 in the morning.

"A lot of students were under the impression all-nighters were a very useful tool for accomplishing work, that caffeine intake was very useful in meeting deadlines and stuff like that," said Chatani, who had a 3.4 GPA last semester and doesn't expect to do too badly this semester, either.

Dr. Howard Weiss, a physician at St. Peter's Sleep Center in Albany, said the study results make sense.

"Certainly that data is out there showing that short sleep duration absolutely interferes with concentration, interferes with performance on objective testing," he said.

Some night owls do get good grades, of course, which may be explained by circadian rhythms, Weiss said. Circadian rhythms can be tracked through body temperature and hormonal transmissions.

Some people have different 24-hour body clocks than others, and may do better depending on class and testing times, Weiss said.

ChloJe LaFrance, a St. Lawrence junior from Elizabethtown majoring in psychology and English, said she's never studied all night. "If I get less than six hours of sleep I just do not function at all," she said.

LaFrance, who has about a 3.7 GPA, said she's never had a situation where she couldn't get all her work done.

"I'm in a crunch period right now," she said. "I just find I work better when I get sleep. I'm actually more productive."

In Thacher's first study, 65 students said they had pulled one or more all-nighters, and 45 said they hadn't done any. The survey was conducted in Psychology 101 classes, and included students in a variety of majors.

[bpick11]

clearly a lack of insight by the author of this article and commentators cited also attirbuting all-nighters to lower grades. in their pea-sized brains it may have never occured that anyone who doesnt pull any all-nighters in the infamous finals frenzy, as is common, is clearly ahead of the game already. let that be the primary contributing factor here: people who don''t pull all-nighters get better grades because they employ more effective time-management strategies. this article is another example of the plaguing sophism: correlation proves causation.

[sharncedar]

How can today''s college students get anything but an "A+" since they are all "amazing" and even thought they cant read and write or think clearly they get A on every assignment, in every class.

So pull an all-nighter or not, today''s colleges will give you the same grade, A for showing up and for mommy and daddy paying the huge bill.

That''s the real grade, for mommy and daddy''s money.

[beehive21-2009]

If you find yourselve in this position ,you already lost,(procrastinators) ,all niters are only good for partying.

[lawyertom1]

While it is a duh based on ancedotal evidence, I doubt if either study is statistically significant in any meaningful manner, especially given that a lot of extraneous factors were not excluded.

[arkajun-2009]

If you drive all night without sleep, don''t you run a greater risk of falling asleep at the wheel?
I echo the previous blogger, Well Duh!!!
And how much did you say this dumb survey cost the American taxpayer?
I think our money would be better spent on surveys that asked, What ever happened to COMMON SENSE?

[mbievtea]

The difference ... because I know from experience at Northern Illinois University ... if you have to pull a bunch of "all-nighters" you aren''t studying anyhow and that''s the difference.

[rudy654-2009]

Instead of pulling an all nighter, tape record your information and play it back continuosly as you sleep! It really works!

[rudy654-2009]

If it was only exams that would be fine, however, you don''t only have exams to do. Often you have major final papers that are due and yes, if you don''t pull an all nighter once in a while, you are going to have to had a lot of extra time during the day. Between work and school, I never had a luxury of time.

[displeased]

Yes, it should be obvious that sleep improves cognitive functioning over caffeine. I had to learn this the hard way. Not only do you not retain information while studying with no sleep, but your brain won''t be alert during the exam. The ultimate is to have caffeine after good sleep, then you''re an intellectual madman!

[seajaya]

I stayed up all night chugging coffee and No-Doz cramming for the final exam. I fell asleep during the exam and flunked the course. Crash!