Thacher will publish her study in the January 2008 issue of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Explaining her findings, Thacher said, "It's not a big difference, but it's pretty striking....I am primarily a sleep researcher and I know nobody thinks clearly at 4 in the morning. You think you do, but you can't," Boston Globe quoted her.
The reasons for all nighters among college students range from too much coffee to improper time management.
Dr. Howard Weiss, a physician at St. Peter's Sleep Center in Albany, concurs with Thacher's theory. He said, "Certainly that data is out there showing that short sleep duration absolutely interferes with concentration, interferes with performance on objective testing."
Dr. Weiss conceded there are exceptions to the rule. He explained 24-hour body clocks of people vary and there are some who perform better in school and examinations, even if they lack sleep.
A separate study by psychologists Doug Rohrer and Harold Pahsler said cramming, or studying materials over and over in one long sustained session, helps a person memorize material. But it is not retained long enough in the mind. After a period of time, the memorized items can no longer be recalled.
To prove their point, the two psychologists had two experimental groups where one group had members cram for a test, reading the materials 10 times in a row, while the second group went over the same material 5 times. After the test, 3 crammers got perfect scores, while only one non-crammer got a 100 percent grade. When the two gave the same test 4 weeks later, there was no difference in the performance between the two groups.
