For a long time, I didn't understand why it‘s so hard for students to do well in college. I thought it was just a matter of studying hard.
But after doing some research, I learned it was a bit more complicated than that. In 2018, two American researchers published evidence that individual differences in daily biological rhythms influence academic performance.
Larks, Finches, Owls
First the researchers studied the daily activity patterns of fifteen thousand students by measuring the times at which they logged in to the university‘s learning management system. They classified the students‘ daily activity patterns into three groups: morning larks, daytime finches, and night owls.
This strategy of using computer logins allowed the researchers to study a really large number of students. And once the students have been classified according to daily activity cycle, the researchers could study how well the students in each group did in classes held at different times during the day.
Mismatches
The researchers found that when there was a significant mismatch between a student‘s daily activity pattern and their class schedule, their academic performance was significantly impacted.
The effect was worst for night owls--students who were most active and alert late in the day. The phenomenon is called social jet lag, because it is similar to the disorienting effect of flying across numerous time zones.
There is no cure-all for this phenomenon; There is no one schedule that works best for everybody. But, the research showed that when individual students are able to schedule classes in accord with their daily activity cycles, they perform better in those classes.
If you want to keep thinking about how your life is affected by your your circadian rhythms, we recently featured how your sense of smell changes throughout the day.
Thank you to Arn H. Eliasson of America‘s Favorite Sleep Center, Ellicott City, Marylandfor reviewing this episode's script.