Throughout the course of my day, I find myself always seeing people rambling on their laptops or working hard on a notebook. Whether its early in the morning or late at night, the ground floor of my building is always filled with students trying to study. In my own observations, I find it easier for myself to study after dinner as a way to give my brain a break for the crazy lectures that I’ve encountered during the day. I have friends, on the other hand, that enjoy studying during the day/before dinner and find it difficult to do so when it gets dark out. This sparked some curiosity in me as I wondered which essentially was better or more effective.

In my situation my alternative hypothesis was that studying at night was better than studying during the day. My null hypothesis was that studying at night was not better nor worse. Therefore, I began doing some research in hopes to find some answers…

Instantly after googling the question, I found an article called “What Time of Day Do You Learn Best?”. The article described the same questions I was stating earlier in my introduction and then proceeded to demonstrate a key aspect in all of this which can effect when our body’s are most productive. The phases our brain has of high productivity and then becoming tired throughout are day is known as circadian rhythms. “Circadian rhythms are the 24-hour sleep-wake cycles that direct a wide range of biological functions—not just when we go to sleep and wake up, but virtually every element of our physiology.” This term has been studied for years by scientists and has seen to have a growing impact on human’s cognitive performance. The article talks about studies in which circadian arousal, time in which one is most alert during the day, has been observed. In most situations, elderly people have seen to have their circadian arousal in the mornings, decreasing during the day. For young students and young adults, the arousal has seen to be very low in the morning, increasing throughout the day, and having its peak late afternoon. In order to test this, younger adults and older adults were memory tested throughout the day and their memory performance has demonstrated this conclusion that as adults have a decrease in their cognitive performance, younger people have an increase throughout the day. This conclusion suggesting that older people should study or perform critical tasks in the morning while younger people should perform these tasks in the afternoon during their circadian arousal.

The Peak Time for Everything, an article in The Wall Street Journal also proceeded to explain how one should observe their high performance phases during the day and use those to fulfill important tasks or study and memorize material. Not only is it beneficial to work during your highest circadian rhythms but disrupting is also leads to diabetes, depression, and obesity according to Steve Kay, a professor at the University of Southern California. A psychologist professor here at The Pennsylvania State University was also written about as he confirmed that human’s lowest circadian rhythm is found between 12-4 pm and its lowest point being around two generally when a good time for a nap should be taken.

On the contrary case, a study observed 428 students and their ability to to solve an analytical problem and a novel thinking problem. The study led by Mareike Wieth, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Albion College in Michigan, proved that during the student’s most tired time of day (lowest circadian rhythm periods) they performed better in the novel thinking problem than when they were on high alert. On the other hand, the analytical problem performance didn’t change throughout the day. Therefore, Mr. Wieth concluded in this same article that fatigue can sometimes come in handy when studying.

Another study found in the same article measured the body rhythms of 25 experienced swimmers in 2007 at the University of Southern Carolina. The swimmers had to perform six timed trials while factors like sleep, diet, and others were being controlled by the scientists. It was concluded that the swimmers’ performances varied throughout the day but was exceptionally high in the late afternoon and very low at around five am. Therefore these various studies have shown contrary data that can conclude many different ideas and beliefs.

Through these studies and through the readings in these articles, a set conclusion can not be placed on when a student should study. Relatively, it is all based on when we feel alert and prepared to study anyways. Therefore students should focus on studying when they feel high in alert and ready to focus. Students should observe their studying patterns in correlation to the grades they get in order to know when the studying should occur throughout their day. Essentially this issue is more of a personal choice and the studies and information found in this post is not concrete enough to accept or reject my null hypothesis. Therefore science has not fully been proven yet in this issue.