Sleep May Impact College Grades More Than Drinking or Drugs

College students can see their grades take a dive if late nights and poor sleep become a routine problem, a new study finds. Shutterstock

College students who want good grades may want to skip the all-nighters and avoid picking early-morning classes because a new study suggests lack of sleep is at least as bad for academic success as binge drinking or doing drugs.

Each night of the week that college students have sleep problems was associated with a 0.02-point drop in their cumulative grade point average (GPA) and 10 percent higher odds that they would drop a course.