Evening chronotype and sleepiness predict impairment in executive abilities and academic performance of adolescents.
The study aim was to better understand sleep and sleep-related factors affecting everyday executive capacities and academic performance among healthy adolescents. A cross-sectional survey on sleep, phase preference, academic performance and executive functions of high-school students was conducted. Female gender, grade status, sleepiness and evening chronotype accounted for approximately 25-30% of the variance in daily executive ability. Sleep duration was a weak predictor of executive skills. Lower school grades were associated with increased sleepiness, evening preference and poorer executive skills. These findings support the need for health education on ways to attenuate sleepiness and delayed phase in this population.