Cape Town - Music. Junk food. Caffeine. This is the arsenal matric pupils typically use the night before a big exam.
And although these tactics might produce favourable results at first, Dr Irshaad Ebrahim, a neuropsychologist in sleep disorders at the Constantia Sleep Centre, said those would be short lived.
“Sleep is essential for us to perform at our peak,” he said. “It’s not just about quantity but quality.”
Ebrahim was reluctant to state the exact number of hours required.
“You need as much sleep as helps you perform at your optimal (level) the next day,” he said.
The clear sign that a person is not getting enough sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, is feeling groggy in the morning, he said. Other impacts include poor concentration, anxiety, and depression.
He said that students were not doing themselves any favours by cramming the night before a test and suggested “good old-fashioned consistent studying” instead.
“They all tend to pack in caffeine,” Ebrahim said.
“In the short term, yes that can work. But you're not going to retain any of that knowledge in the long term.”
Staying up all night and consuming caffeine was especially problematic for students who had more than one exam a day.
While they were likely to perform well on the morning exam, Ebrahim said their results on the afternoon exam would be lower than normal.
Ebrahim urged pupils to lead a healthy life by maintaining a regular sleep/wake schedule, exercising in the morning, cutting down on excessive caffeine intake, and getting at least six to eight hours of sleep a night. - Cape Argus