Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

news.berkeley.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 458 posts

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#351

Post by merinowool »

justherefortart wrote: post #45
anotheryou wrote: post #40

I like how it shows that getting up early ruins the whole day. I have to come an hour early for a meeting every other week and it's always a challenging day... Getting up ~9am is the point at which it doesn't effect my performance anymore (I'd still prefer shifting my sleep phase even further). Sadly this only worked for a job once in my career.

Go to bed earlier. I get up early and have since High School. All I do is make sure I go to bed at a reasonable hour. Going to work, lunch, home early is friggin awesome. Avoiding rush hour, saving me roughly 1 hour a day in traffic, is fantastic. Plus it gives me time to do any personal things in the early afternoon without affecting my work schedule.

> Go to bed earlier.

It is the same as telling depressed person to "cheer up"...

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#352

Post by merinowool »

monster_group wrote: post #128

I am more than half way through the book "Why we sleep?" by Matthew Walker and it is not a surprise to me that misalignment of circadian rhythm with class schedules results in poor grades. The book goes into great detail on the importance of getting eight hours of sleep on a regular schedule. Getting less than eight hours of sleep is tied to every imaginable disease and poor memory. I highly recommend reading the boo…

Does it offer any solution?

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#353

Post by merinowool »

matte_black wrote: post #251
sjg007 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some kids can do it. Some go to sleep earlier and wake up refreshed. Some don't, it's biological that's all. I wish I'd gone to bed earlier in high school but I was wired to stay up late. Same in college. It wasn't until I started working that I got to bed earlier. And after having kids man I can go to bed at 8pm easy.

Then it’s better to “rewire” these kids before they get to the real world and have to wake up early, or else they will be poor performers.

It is not possible.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#354

Post by JepZ »

digitaltrees wrote: post #347
JepZ wrote: post #311

> It may be time to tailor students’ class schedules to their natural biological rhythms... Why does everybody want to change the world around them and not just adapt themselves to the world, e.g.: 'To earn better grades, students should sync their biological rhythm to their class schedules.' While some might argue that it is not easy to do that, I would respond that such skill is invaluable for your life ahead. Gran…

Because the body has a cycle of hormone release that makes people alert or tired at different times and trying to change it is almost impossible. There is a theory that we evolved different sleep schedules so that one member of a tribe would be awake at any point in time to be alert to danger. This is not a question of mere will or discipline. You try staying awake until 7am every night and see how it feels.

Then humans must be different in that respect. In fact, I changed my sleep schedules multiple times in the last two years alone (from getting up at 6am to going to bed at 6am). The only constant seems to be that I require 8 hours of sleep. For a few days I can get by with 6 hours, but after a week or so with less than 8 hours I get kinda sick for as long as I don't catch up.

However, while I feel that my body has some kind of cycle too, for me it is possible to adjust it over the course of a few weeks.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#355

Post by merinowool »

aj7 wrote: post #328

Perhaps in classes where the grade is determined by parroting back what the professor says in class. It’s when (and how much) you study, not when class is that counts. Class just tells you what’s important to study.

If your day is ruined because you had to wake up at incompatible hour, you won't be able to learn much during that day, regardless if it is in class or in the evening at home as you'll be feeling fatigued.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#356

Post by digitaltrees »

enknamel wrote: post #243

Can't biological clocks change? Or are there really populations of people who have a truly different clock? Or is it a result of their environment? Personally I've been a night owl and a morning person alternating between the two throughout my life by choice.

There is an actual hormone release cycle and people have different timing. You can affect it somewhat with light therapy but only by an hour or two.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#357

Post by brightball »

curun1r wrote: post #339
oculusthrift wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hm, that's very debatable. alot would contend history and science are core but others aren't. I've heard many complain that they never use math in the real world. I think math is core but the problem is its very opinion based. I don't see how other subjects don't build on each other.

I suspect it depends on the age of the students. In grade school when kids are learning to read and do addition, it's hard to imagine anything more core than that and science/history taught at that age is more about getting kids exposed to those concepts rather than actual learning. But once kids get to secondary school and English transitions to British Lit, American Lit and other variations on "read books and write…

This policy is at an elementary school, but it’s probably a good assumption that a similar policy could adjust in high school for exactly that reason.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#359

Post by digitaltrees »

ThomPete wrote: post #293

For what it's worth my son is at one of the best performing schools in NY State (Top 3%). They meet at 7.45AM every morning and get most of the learning done while they are the freshest. I am not convinced this study actually proves that but need to dig deeper in.

I am at my freshest from 11pm to 2am. If I try to be productive at 8am it is a waste.

Re: Poor Grades Tied to Class Times That Don’t Match Our Biological Clocks

#360

Post by digitaltrees »

daddosi wrote: post #279

Interesting stuff but night owls could also go to bed early, drink a bit less etc I mean, bioritm it isnt the only datapoint.

what about shift workers that work at night. Lots of evidence that their health is damaged because they are forced to live off cycle with their normal sleep patterns.
Post reply on HN