Might it be possible to blame your college grades on whether you are a natural night owl or an early bird? Possibly to some extent, according to the results of a two year study involving nearly 15,000 students. The study, by the University of California at Berkeley’s Benjamin Smarr, Ph.D., and Northeastern Illinois University’s Aaron Schirmer, Ph.D., found that students perform less well academically when their class times don’t sync with their natural biological clocks. This mismatch causes a phenomenon known as social jet lag (SJL) – effectively deficits in learning and attention that occur when the natural circadian rhythms of an individual are not in sync with real-world commitments such as class times at college. "We found that the majority of students were being jet-lagged by their class times, which correlated very strongly with decreased academic performance," Dr. Smarr says. "Our research indicates that if a student ...
Original Article: Students Achieve Poorer Grades When Classes Don't Sync with Biological Clocks