By
Jeremy Duda
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA doctor, students agree that all-nighters better than nothing, but not by much
Findings of a study conducted at Harvard Medical School show that all-night study sessions may have a negative effect on students' grades - which does not come as a surprise to UA sleep experts.
"This is nothing new," said Dr. Colin Bamford, director of the UA neurophysiology and sleep lab. "Every study to date has shown that, and I would expect this one to mirror the others."
The Harvard study's control group slept regularly for four days, while the variable group was deprived of sleep for the first night. At the end of the four-day cycle, the two groups were tested on image recognition - and the group that got less sleep performed more poorly, because sleep deprivation has a negative effect on the cortex, the part of the brain which is responsible for storing information.
Different individuals need different amounts of sleep, Bamford said. While one person may only need seven or eight hours of sleep, somebody else may need more.
Whether someone is a "short sleeper" or a "long sleeper," the key factor is how much sleep is missed, not how much is obtained. More than an hour off of a person's normal sleep schedule may begin to affect memory retention, Bamford said.
Despite the findings of this study, UA students will likely continue to study until sunrise.
Journalism freshman Maygan Hoflin said she has no plans to end her late-night cramming.
"Obviously it would be better, because I wouldn't be so stressed out, but I still get good grades," she said.
Bamford recommended studying prior to the night before a big test. If a student has studied regularly beforehand, he said, one last night of cramming would not make a difference in the grade.
However, if a student doesn't know the material at all, Bamford said it is still better go into a test sleep-deprived rather than not knowing any of the information - meaning that the all-nighter will probably continue to be a staple of college life.
Andres Ideus, a Pima Community College student visiting the UA campus, agreed with Bamford.
"I'd say it would benefit your grade as an alternative to doing nothing, but probably the worst of the options you have," he said.
