Academic performance from school to
university
School achievement has been measured by using
different parameters: grade point average (GPA),
self-reported average grades, teacher comments/
behaviour ratings, parent reports, and school
behaviour.26 Unfortunately, the use of such a
plethora of different measures is a limitation to
the comparability between different studies. Moreover,
rating systems vary across different schools
and, consequently, even GPAs appear to be nonobjective
indices. Thus, the only way to strengthen
the findings would be by using multiple measures in
the same study.26
Based on the responses to a questionnaire filled
in by the parents of students, Kahn and co-workers50
compared health, behaviour, sleep complaints
and school performance of normal and poor (longer
sleep latencies and frequent nocturnal awakenings)
sleepers. A percentage of 21% of poor sleepers
failed 1 or more years at school, while similar
problems were observed in just 11% of normal
sleepers. Moreover, school achievement difficulties
resulted more frequent in poor than in normal
sleepers. One of the best predictors for this low
school achievement has been identified in children’s
fatigue, i.e. difficulties in morning arousal
and the need for afternoon naps.51
As an indirect link between sleep and academic
performance, it was shown that students with more
regular sleep-wake patterns (shorter sleep latencies,
fewer night awakenings, later school rise
times, earlier rise times on weekends) reported
higher GPA,52,53 whereas students with lower
grades reported increased daytime sleepiness, also
as a consequence of shorter sleeping nights