Incentives to sleep boost college students' grades, new study finds
A study published in the Journal of Political Economy provides the first causal evidence that improving sleep can directly enhance academic performance.
A recent study published in the Journal of Political Economy reveals that providing financial incentives to university students can improve their sleep habits, which in turn leads to higher academic performance. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California San Diego conducted a large-scale field experiment involving over 1,100 students in the United States.
The study found that students who received monetary incentives for meeting a seven-hour sleep goal on weeknights slept an average of 19 additional minutes per night, with a 26% increase in nights where they met the recommended sleep duration. Participants in the incentive group also achieved a 0.075–0.089 grade point improvement, equivalent to a 0.10–0.11 standard deviation increase in their grades.
The benefits of improved sleep were most pronounced among freshmen and in STEM courses held during midday. The study highlights the effectiveness of cash incentives as an educational intervention, improving sleep quality and academic productivity at a lower cost compared to traditional methods.
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