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Get some sleep!


Sleep is key to success on exams.


As students prepare for midterm exams next week, English teacher and Director of the OLSH Writing & Learning Center, Mr. Tyler Rodgers, prepared a fun special announcement with a serious message about the importance of sleep! Below is the transcript of Mr. Rodgers' message - good advice for all of us, but especially students preparing for exams!

Good Morning OLSH I hope you are all well rested and alert this morning!

I am here to talk to you about…..Midterm study tips and …. Well…. Being well rested and alert.

Using all of my scientific mind and the power of the internet and “RELIABLE RESOURCES AND RESEARCH” I have compiled some interesting data for you all.

As we approach the week of Midterms you should all be thinking about studying. Recent research suggests that while studying is vital to doing well on tests, staying up late to cram and losing sleep is counter productive to scoring well.

According to UCLA “If a student sacrifices sleep in order to study more than usual, he or she is likely to have more academic problems, not less, on the following day.”

Sooo. Stop procrastinating and study slowly in advance. Late night cramming sessions hurt. Not help!

But Why?? Asks the scientific student, or any 6 year old in their curious phase.

The answer is short term memory. Ironically cramming and sleep deprivation activate the same thing. SHORT TERM MEMORY retention…

But here is the thing THAT IS BAD.

According to the Texas A&M College of Medicine, “the information retained in one’s short term memory as a result of cramming disappears within a period of a few minutes to a few hours”

So, late night cramming will decrease your cognitive function, emotional output, physical function, and not even help you remember what you studied in the first place.

The crafty “I have something to say to refute any argument” student is smirking in class right now (I SEE YOU!) “Oh I will just get a triple expresso at Starbucks and be fine. It’s Midterms.”

I went to the top for this one. HARVARD. BOOM EDUCATED.

Harvard researchers state, “emerging evidence suggests that some aspects of higher level cognitive capacities remain degraded by sleep deprivation despite restoration of alertness and vigilance with stimulant countermeasures.”

In short, coffee or other stimulants DO NOT restore your lost sleep. The only thing to do is plan ahead and get your recommended 7-8 hours.

To summarize… study early, take breaks, AND SLEEP PEOPLE. The biggest mistake you can make coming into next week is to lose sleep day after day because it has a heavy impact on your ability to do your best during exams. Not to mention a recent poll of any student ever, done across the span of recorded history and the multiverse states: “Sleeping is like totally awesome.”

Thank you and have a Super Thursday OLSH!
Tyler Rodgers began his career at OLSH as a student-teacher in 2013. Today he serves as a teacher in the English department and the Director of the OLSH Writing & Learning (OWL) Center. He has a B.A. in English, B.S. in Secondary English and a M.S. in Education from Duquesne University. Tyler enjoys connecting students with content in creative and interesting ways and he is involved in a variety of extracurricular activities and events at OLSH including the yearbook, Faculty v. Students basketball game, and the Chi Rho retreat.

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