Colleges Urged to Consider Student Sleep Patterns

The sleep patterns and rest needs of a majority of students are inconsistent with the way colleges and universities schedule their courses, says a new study in the journal Scientific Reports. By failing to consider students' sleep patterns, colleges are making decisions that result in many students facing more academic difficulty than they might otherwise, says the study. The study was based on data from students at Northeastern Illinois University. The authors were Aaron Schirmer, a professor of biology there, and Benjamin Smarr, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. The misalignment that is the focus of their research is known as social jet lag.