Sleep: Educational Impact and Habit Formation

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Giuntella, Osea; Saccardo, Silvia; Sadoff, Sally
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh; IZA Institute Labor Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research; Carnegie Mellon University; University of California System; University of California San Diego
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/740221
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: SCHOOL START TIMES; behavioral economics; heart-rate; rem-sleep; incentives; duration; metaanalysis; CONSEQUENCES; deprivation; achievement

摘要

In a field experiment among US university students, incentives for sleep increase both sleep and academic performance. Our primary intervention pairs bedtime reminders with morning feedback and immediate rewards for sleeping at least 7 hours on weeknights. The intervention raises the share of weeknights with 7+ hours of sleep by 26% and average sleep by 19 minutes during a 4-week treatment period, with posttreatment effects of 8 minutes. Immediate incentives outperform both delayed incentives and reminders/feedback alone during treatment but have no distinguishable impacts posttreatment. The primary intervention improves average semester course performance by 0.075-0.089 grade points, a 0.10-0.11 standard deviation increase. Our results demonstrate that incentives targeting sleep can be a cost-effective approach to improve educational outcomes.