Abstract
ObjectiveThis intensive longitudinal study examined how sleep and physical activity relate to university students’ affect and academic performance during a stressful examination period.MethodsOn 32 consecutive days, 72 first-year students answered online questionnaires on their sleep quality, physical activity, positive and negative affect, learning goal achievement, and examination grades. First-year university students are particularly well-suited to test our hypotheses: They represent a relatively homogeneous population in a natural, but controlled setting, and simultaneously deal with similar stressors, such as examinations. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation models.ResultsOver the examination period, better average sleep quality but not physical activity predicted better learning goal achievement. Better learning goal achievement was associated with increased probability of passing all examinations. Relations of average sleep quality and average physical activity with learning goal achievement were mediated by experienced positive affect. In terms of day-to-day dynamics, on days with better sleep quality, participants reported better learning goal achievement. Day-to-day physical activity was not related to daily learning goal achievement. Daily positive and negative affect both mediated the effect of day-to-day sleep quality and physical activity on daily learning goal achievement.ConclusionHealth behaviors such as sleep quality and physical activity seem important for both academic performance and affect experience, an indicator of mental health, during a stressful examination period. These results are a first step toward a better understanding of between- and within-person variations in health behaviors, affect, and academic performance, and could inform prevention and intervention programs for university students.
Highlights
Starting university is an academically and socially challenging transition; the university years are often considered the most demanding learning period in many people’s lives
We found that positive affect mediated 27%, and negative affect 23% of the total effect between physical activity and learning goal achievement
Sleep quality was a stronger predictor of learning goal achievement than was physical activity on average and on a day-to-day level
Summary
Starting university is an academically and socially challenging transition; the university years are often considered the most demanding learning period in many people’s lives. The consequences of university dropout or prolonged study duration include increased education costs [3] and unfulfilled dreams—for example, not having the qualifications to work in one’s chosen profession or earning a lower salary [1]. Identifying behaviors that can help young adults to achieve their academic goals is of considerable importance. This prospective longitudinal study investigated whether health behaviors, such as sleep and physical activity, are related to academic performance in young adults. We tested how sleep quality and physical activity were related to learning goal achievement and, in turn, whether average learning goal achievement predicted success in year-end examinations. We tested whether positive and negative affect mediated the relations of sleep quality and physical activity with learning goal achievement
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