The SAT and Sleep: Part 2

As I mentioned in The SAT and Sleep: Part1, The National Institute of Health recommends that high school students get 8-10 hours of sleep per night. In part 2, we're going explore some common misconceptions high school students have about sleep deprivation when it comes to taking the SAT. 

I’m in high school and don’t need 8-10 hours of sleep. My body is used to getting 5-6 hours and I feel fine.

This is partly true: The human body is extremely sophisticated and constantly making adjustments. While you may feel “fine”, you’re not operating at full mental capacity. You're simply used to getting 5-6 hours of sleep per night and your body is accustomed to operating below capacity. This is your normal.

If, however, you were to change your sleep habits by consistently getting 2 more hours  (7-8 hours) of sleep per day, your body will adjust accordingly: increased mental acuity/alertness, more energy, better overall mood and less anxiety. This will be your new normal. 

According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation can lower learning abilities by as much as 40 percent. This translates to impaired performance on the SAT:

• More time needed to process
• Decreased overall comprehension
• Missing important details
• ​Making silly/stupid mistakes
• Running out of time

I got over 8 hours of sleep the night before the SAT, but I still made a ton of stupid mistakes!

Duh. If you regularly get 6 hours of sleep per night, one night of sleeping 8 hours won’t make any difference. Sleep is a cumulative process so the key is to get 8-10 hours on a regular basis and allow your body to adjust to this new normal. According to a Mayo Clinic study, sleep-deprived high school students start to experience improved cognitive function after 2 weeks of consistently improved sleep habits.

The most important thing for testing well on the SAT is a strong understanding of the concepts being tested on the exam.

Nope. While that's obviously important, sleep is even more important. As someone who teaches the SAT exam for a living, I know all SAT concepts/strategies like the back of my hand. However, it didn't matter, because, as discussed in Part1, I scored 200 points below my average when I took the test sleep-deprived.   

The scary part about being sleep-deprived is that you're cognitively impaired and you don't even realize it. This goes far beyond just test-taking: According to a AAA study, you're twice as likely to get into a car accident when sleep-deprived. 

If sleep deprivation has such far reaching consequences over how we function every day, then it makes sense that it's the single worst thing you can do to sabotage your SAT score.