Study: Undiagnosed Sleep Disorders May Sabotage Students’ Academics

Undiagnosed sleep disorders may be sabotaging students’ academic success, a study by UNC Charlotte psychology professor Jane Gaultney suggests.

Gaultney presented the study in June at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies’ Conference and published the abstract in the journal Sleep. Her research found evidence suggesting that college students with sleep disorders may run a higher risk for lower GPAs, less motivation and possibly even more dire consequences.

“I found that students who were at risk for a sleep disorder in their first freshman semester were more likely to leave the university before graduating than were people who were not apparently at risk for a sleep disorder,” Gaultney said.

She considered five models in the study: that students at risk for sleep disorders would be more likely to leave college before graduation; that the remaining students would achieve lower GPAs; that low motivation and depression would co-vary in these students; and that inconsistent or insufficient sleep may affect motivation and a student’s GPA.

Gaultney used a survey to screen incoming freshman to assess their baseline sleep patterns and their risk for sleep disorders, and then monitored those students’ GPAs and retention rate for three years. The gathered data suggests a relationship between having a sleep disorder and a lowered GPA, which may influence the student’s decision to leave the college.

Students with sleep disorders commonly express co-variants, or multiple factors that exist together, such as ADHD, depression or mood swings, which may also lead to academic struggles.

“It’s not quite as clear-cut when you throw in a lot of co-variants, but you still have this pattern shown over a three-year period that they are more likely to leave the university,” Gaultney said. “That’s interesting to colleges because the pattern can potentially be modified with interventions.”

Depression and low motivation also tend to co-vary and are linked to sleep disorders. Therefore, the study’s findings raise the question about whether symptoms of sleep disorders exacerbate depression, which can in turn hurt motivation. All of these factors may contribute to academic success or failure. An untreated sleep disorder may create further obstacles in an already over-stressed population, the study s

“Everything we need to do as humans we are going to do better if we have enough sleep,” Gaultney said.

While colleges cannot assume that early identification and treatment of sleep disorder will increase the retention rate, the study does suggest implications for the students and for higher education, Gaultney said.

“It has huge implications, all the way from cellular level through genetic expression all the way up to behavioral patterns,” Gaultney says. “So I would like to raise awareness about the importance of sleep and make it more respectable.”

Continued research may establish whether motivation is a mediating factor for sleep disorders, and if interventions could improve the academic performance of students suffering from sleep disorders.

Given the physical, emotional, and academic harm associated with untreated sleep disorders, it may be in an institution’s best interest to screen incoming college students for untreated sleep disorders and offer access to appropriate healthcare professionals if a student is at risk, Gaultney said.

“As a culture we tend to devalue sleep,” she said. “You hear things like ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead,’ and ‘You snooze, you lose.’ As a culture we tend to devalue sleep, but that’s very shortsighted.”

Words: Skye Allan, CLAS Communications Student Assistant
Image of Gaultney courtesy of Gaultney