Archive · 10 Aug 2026
Study: 19 Extra Minutes of Sleep Helped Students Perform Better
Scientists wanted to find out if getting more sleep helps students do better in school.
They watched 1,149 college students who were sleeping about 6.6 hours a night.
That is not enough, since they slept less than six hours on almost a third of school nights.
Some students were asked to sleep at least seven hours and got bedtime reminders and a small nightly reward.
The other students just kept their usual habits.
The students who tried to sleep more got about 19 extra minutes of sleep each night.
They also earned slightly better grades that semester, and the improvement lasted into the next semester.
This study is special because it shows that more sleep actually causes better schoolwork.
The improvement was small, so scientists say more research is needed.
A field experiment published in the Journal of Political Economy found that improving students' sleep improved their academic performance.
Researchers studied 1,149 college students who averaged 6.6 hours of sleep per night at the start, sleeping under six hours on nearly 29% of weeknights.
The treatment group received Fitbit trackers, personalized bedtime reminders, and a $4.75-per-night financial incentive to sleep at least seven hours.
Treated students slept about 19 minutes longer per night and improved their average course performance by 0.075 to 0.089 grade points.
Academic benefits persisted into the following semester, with students sleeping about eight minutes longer even after incentives ended.
- Who
- 1,149 college students, and researchers led by health economist Osea Giuntella of the University of Pittsburgh
- What
- A first-of-its-kind field experiment demonstrated that a sleep-promoting intervention caused measurable improvements in students' academic performance.
- When
- The four-week intervention was part of several waves of experiments; the study's publication date is not stated in the article.
- Where
- Conducted with college students in a university setting; the study was led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, and the specific university is not named.
- Why
- To test whether better sleep can directly improve academic performance, since sleep deprivation is common among young adults and universities lack affordable ways to boost student performance.
- Journal
- Journal of Political Economy
- Students studied
- 1,149 college students
- Average baseline sleep
- 6.6 hours per night
- Sleep gain
- 19 extra minutes per night
- Sleep target
- At least 7 hours on weeknights
- Financial incentive
- $4.75 per night for 4 weeks
- Grade improvement
- 0.075-0.089 grade points
- Post-intervention effect
- About 8 minutes longer sleep per night