Paying college students to sleep earlier boosts grades, study finds
A field experiment at the University of Pittsburgh paid participants $5 per night for seven hours of sleep, leading to modest grade improvements.
In a study published in the Journal of Political Economy, three American scholars tested whether modest cash rewards could change college sleep habits. Over a month, students at the University of Pittsburgh wore connected bracelets that recorded their nightly rest and received prompts to go to bed. Those randomly selected for the incentive program were promised about $5 for every night they logged at least seven hours of sleep.
Compared with peers who received no payment, the incentivized students increased their average sleep duration by roughly 19 minutes and experienced a measurable, though modest, rise in their semester GPA. When the payments stopped, the extra sleep fell to just a few minutes per night, even though the desire to sleep more remained high. The findings suggest that immediate financial incentives can translate knowledge of sleep benefits into actual behavior, more effectively than reminders alone.
