strong evidences showing sleep early is better for health than sleeping late

[Smooth Operater]

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My dad always tell me to sleep early and wake up early in the morning to study for my exams instead of trying to cram the materials during midnight and wake up late the next day. I am sure many of med students have to go through the late night cramming. But, is this kind of life style healthy?
are there strong evidences showing sleeping early is better for health than sleeping late in the night? Thank you.

 

[DocInProgress]

I don't have evidence but I can tell from my personal experiences.

During college, I usually do much better, in terms of grades, when I sleep early and study in the morning than cram all night.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I do my best work at 3 AM. Not a morning person.

That being said, I still go to sleep around 12 to get a good nights rest.

Can't wait for on calls in third year, finally get to stay up.

 

[osli]

Where there is no time for sleep before an exam, the choice of exactly when to sleep suddenly becomes very easy.

 

[34140]

personally it depends on the day...but over all morning study is better for me than late night studying.

 

[hermit]

I don't have links for you, but isn't it generally accepted that there really are such things as "morning people" and "night people"? If that's true, then surely researchers aren't going to be able to make the blanket statement that going to bed early is better for everyone.

 

[HoboCommander]

my parents tell me that too, but i tell them that there is simply no evidence. they are asian, btw.

 

[seriously]

in a neuroscience class in undergrad we learned that your brain processes and stores information while you're sleeping, so to really learn something you have to sleep on it. i've never really looked into the validity of that, but i have lived by it nonetheless and always stay up late rather than cramming the morning of an exam

but i do agree, there are morning people and night people, and you should just do whatever works for you. my roomie and i practically never see each other, cause i would rather stay up till 3 studying, and she would rather get up at 5:30...go figure

 

[keeping-it-real]

I personally prefer to go late into the night and then sleep 30 min to 2 hours, get up 1-2 hours before the test.

I go into an almost hypomanic state when I do this. It's probably the only time where I'm able to 100% focus on only one single thing for hours and I usually don't get very tired once the second wind kicks in (gotta have some caffeine for the gap, though).

I've tried going to bed early and then getting up early and it usually doesn't work out as well for the following reasons: 1) I am much more apathetic in the morning. I am more willing to blow off studying and just zone out. 2) I usually waste a good hour or so trying to get to bed "early" whereas when I stay up late into the night, I can usually sleep (read: pass out) within 10 minutes of hitting the bed/couch/floor/etc.

I would think by now that you have probably found out the type of person you are. I used the above method all through highschool and college so it's not like it was something new. Actually, the newest thing in medical school was realizing that I had to start "cramming" 2 weeks in advance.

 

[Blade28]

I do my best work at 3 AM. Not a morning person.

That being said, I still go to sleep around 12 to get a good nights rest.

Can't wait for on calls in third year, finally get to stay up.

As a fellow night person, let me just say that all-nighters quickly become over-rated in medicine. 🙁

 

[EMH]

Mornings suck. Sleep when you're dead.

 

[-Goose-]

My dad always tell me to sleep early and wake up early in the morning to study for my exams instead of trying to cram the materials during midnight and wake up late the next day. I am sure many of med students have to go through the late night cramming. But, is this kind of life style healthy?
are there strong evidences showing sleeping early is better for health than sleeping late in the night? Thank you.

i've always done this. my body can't function (for studying purposes) past 1130 or so. even if it means I wake up at 0330, i still can't study late.

 

[GreenShirt]

in a neuroscience class in undergrad we learned that your brain processes and stores information while you're sleeping, so to really learn something you have to sleep on it. i've never really looked into the validity of that, but i have lived by it nonetheless and always stay up late rather than cramming the morning of an exam

This is my completely unscientific opinion: I think studying before bed would help put information in your long store memory, whereas studying in the morning before the exam would put things into your short term memory. If you study the info the morning before, it will likely be fresher in your memory for the test itself, but in the long run less of it will stick. Of course this all depends on you getting enough sleep, which doesn't happen often in medical school.

 

[agranulocytosis]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but sleep is probably the MOST important thing for your bodies. We just got done with exams today, and on Monday, which was the day our Path II exams averaged 52%, a student collapsed at a restaurant and went into a. fib while eating. He went into cardiac arrest twice. Now he's stable and recovering from a sedative-induced coma.

Steer clear from energy drinks and no sleep. Being in this profession does you no good if you cannot stay healthy.

Remember, it's a marathon and not a sprint. These basic sciences are going to be the easiest time for us in our careers by many accounts, so take that into consideration when you are considering those 2- or 3-night benders.

 

[akpete]

I do my best work at 3 AM. Not a morning person.

That being said, I still go to sleep around 12 to get a good nights rest.

Can't wait for on calls in third year, finally get to stay up.

You won't be saying that when you're setting your alarm clock for 3am in third year. As a fellow night person, third year has been difficult so far d/t the very very early mornings on a daily basis.