Study: Adolescents who sleep more score higher in math

Sleeping less than six hours a night is linked to a variety of health ills for teens and adults. Now researchers found students who get between 6 to 9 hours of sleep score higher in math, compared to those who get too little or too much sleep.

For the study, published in the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, researchers at the University of Granada and Junta de Andalucia, researchers analyzed 592 students age 12 to 19. Thirty nine percent of the students were male and 61 percent, female. Researchers provided two sets of questionnaires designed to measure sleep quality, duration, how quickly the students fell asleep and daytime sleepiness. The finding show students who are able to fall asleep within 15 minutes did significantly better on their math tests compared to students who lay awake. A study published October, 2001 from the American Psychological Association also showed lack of sleep undermines student’s health. Not getting quality sleep and skimping on hours was linked to traffic accidents, poor concentration, behavioral issues and poorer grades in a study that included 3,000 students. They also found too much sleep leads to lower math scores. The time the students went to bed and awakened had no impact on how well they did on math tests. The authors of the study concluded daytime sleepiness is linked to poor math skills. Students who get between 6 and 9 hours of sleep each night and fall asleep without difficulty were found to score higher in math. Past studies have linked less sleep among teens to vehicle accidents, poor concentration and behavioral issues.