4 ms·

This study is examining correlation, not causation, and it doesn’t appear to provide any evidence to support the article title’s claim that changing one’s sleep

by mewse 5y ago

This study is examining correlation, not causation, and it doesn’t appear to provide any evidence to support the article title’s claim that changing one’s sleeping habits will change one’s college grades. The study provided evidence that people who have good grades on average tend to get “better” sleep on average (according to whatever criteria FitBit’s sleep tracking feature uses) than those who have worse grades. It doesn’t provide evidence for any stronger statement than that; just that good grades and quality of sleep seem to tend to go together. It certainly doesn’t provide any evidence to support the title’s claim “Better sleep habits lead to better college grades”; that changing sleeping habits improves grades. That would be an interesting study if anyone finds a way to get it past the ethics panels.

kayodelycaon 5y ago
Or it could be that some students don’t need to sacrifice sleep to succeed. I spent most of my degree goofing off with the regular interruptions of sitting in lectures, writing notes, and maybe review them once before taking a test. I always made sure to get enough sleep to be mentally sharp. If I did that, the act of writing notes in the lecture was enough to lock the information in my head. Later on in college when class got more difficult, my best friends and I would talk about what we learned each day. We taught each other our own subjects and teaching can be the best way to learn. Not everyone is so fortunate to have the massive advantages I did. I had to be careful with money but never needed loans or a job. This let me focus solely on getting good enough grades to graduate.
lupire 5y ago
There's no ethical issue. Recruit 40 bad sleepers. Ask 20 of them to change their habits to generally recognized healthy habits. Ignore non-blindedness.

by mewse 5y ago

kayodelycaon 5y ago

Or it could be that some students don’t need to sacrifice sleep to succeed. I spent most of my degree goofing off with the regular interruptions of sitting in lectures, writing notes, and maybe review them once before taking a test. I always made sure to get enough sleep to be mentally sharp. If I did that, the act of writing notes in the lecture was enough to lock the information in my head. Later on in college when class got more difficult, my best friends and I would talk about what we learned each day. We taught each other our own subjects and teaching can be the best way to learn. Not everyone is so fortunate to have the massive advantages I did. I had to be careful with money but never needed loans or a job. This let me focus solely on getting good enough grades to graduate.

lupire 5y ago

There's no ethical issue. Recruit 40 bad sleepers. Ask 20 of them to change their habits to generally recognized healthy habits. Ignore non-blindedness.