Research from the United States has found that lack of sleep, excessive computer screen time and stress have a negative effect on college students' grades.
According to a study by researchers at the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service, insufficient sleep, excessive television/computer screen time, stress, gambling, alcohol and tobacco use and other health-related issues, are taking their toll on college students' academic performance.
Director and chief health officer Dr. Ed Ehlinger says the study shows for the first that there is a direct link between college students' health and their academic achievement.
The study is part of one of the most comprehensive studies of college students' health in the U.S. and involved as many as 24,000 students from 14 Minnesota colleges and universities who were randomly selected to participate - 9,931 completed the 2007 College Student Health Survey Report.
The results only include undergraduate students from two-year and four-year institutions but all five Minnesota Universities were included in the survey.
The results showed that 69.9% of college students reported they were stressed and 32.9% of those students said that stress was hurting their academic performance. 20% of students reported that sleep difficulties impacted on their academics and Dr. Ehlinger says the more days students get adequate sleep the better their grades and he believes there is a direct link between the two.