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Sleep: Educational Impact and Habit Formation

Author

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  • Osea Giuntella
  • Silvia Saccardo
  • Sally Sadoff

Abstract

In a field experiment among US university students, incentives for sleep increase both sleep and academic performance. Our primary intervention pairs bedtime reminders with morning feedback and immediate rewards for sleeping at least 7 hours on weeknights. The intervention raises the share of weeknights with 7+ hours of sleep by 26% and average sleep by 19 minutes during a 4-week treatment period, with posttreatment effects of 8 minutes. Immediate incentives outperform both delayed incentives and reminders/feedback alone during treatment but have no distinguishable impacts posttreatment. The primary intervention improves average semester course performance by 0.075–0.089 grade points, a 0.10–0.11 standard deviation increase. Our results demonstrate that incentives targeting sleep can be a cost-effective approach to improve educational outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Osea Giuntella & Silvia Saccardo & Sally Sadoff, 2026. "Sleep: Educational Impact and Habit Formation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 134(8), pages 2313-2361.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/740221
    DOI: 10.1086/740221
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