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Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments
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The relationship between sleep and academic performance among multiple health care training programs
Henry Hua1, Tawnya Kargupta2, Kim Vo3
1Marshall B. Ketchum University College of Pharmacy, 2575 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Fullerton, CA 92831, United States of America.
Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning
|May 6, 2025
Summary
Adequate sleep before an exam is crucial for memory retention. Students who slept more the night before a memory task performed better, regardless of when they took the course.
Area of Science:
- Health Professions Education
- Sleep Science
- Academic Performance
Background:
- Existing research links sleep to academic success in pharmacy and optometry students.
- No studies have compared sleep and academic performance across different health professions or specifically evaluated physician assistant students.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between sleep quality and quantity and memory retention and academic performance.
- To assess these relationships in students across various health care professions.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey was administered to Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), Doctor of Optometry (OD), and Master's in Physician Assistant Studies (PA) students.
- Data collected included self-reported sleep quality, sleep quantity, caffeine consumption, and Grade Point Average (GPA).
- Memory retention was evaluated using quiz questions from first-year coursework.
Main Results:
- Memory retention showed a negative correlation with caffeine consumption.
- Students reporting more sleep the night before the study achieved higher memory retention scores.
- Higher weekend caffeine consumption correlated with lower GPAs.
Conclusions:
- Sufficient sleep prior to examinations is recommended to enhance memory retention.
- The study's retrospective design and self-reported data present limitations, precluding causal conclusions.
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