The late-night habit many students swear by: What researchers discovered may surprise you

A new study suggests that students may not need to sacrifice sleep for better grades. Researchers tracking 1,149 college students found that encouraging them to get at least seven hours of weeknight sleep increased their sleep by about 19 minutes per night and improved average course performance. The academic gains persisted into the following semester, offering experimental evidence that improving sleep can positively affect educational outcomes and suggesting that an extra hour in bed may be more valuable than late-night studying.