As exam season and the end of term approaches, we can start to feel the pressure building. During these final few weeks, when we most need a rested mind, sleep can become difficult to get. With deadlines upon us and revision lists that seems to get bigger, it can be really tempting to swap sleep for more study time – with many of us working late into the night. And while it might feel like the right thing to do in the moment, the science around sleep tells us something different.
What happens when we sleep?
Most of us think of sleep as simply switching off but what actually happens inside your brain while you sleep is anything but passive. Having a better understanding of what it’s doing can help us to balance both how we sleep and how we study.
During deep sleep, or NREM sleep our brain processes what we’ve learned that day and then moves it into our longer-term memory. This is, in part, how studying “sticks”. If we don’t get enough of this type of sleep it can become harder to hold onto what we’ve been learning and recall it when we need it.
Another stage of sleep, REM sleep, plays a different but just as important role. This is when the brain processes emotions and helps regulate how we respond to stress. When we don’t get enough REM sleep it can become harder to focus, or to think clearly under pressure and manage our worries in the moment.
So during exam time, our sleep habits can make a real difference to how we learn and cope with pressure.
The scale of the problem
Sleep difficulties among university students are far more common than many people realise. A 2023 study of UK university students found that around one in four experienced insomnia in the clinical range, around one in five reported symptoms of depression, and two-thirds reported symptoms of anxiety. Students also described how sleep problems affected their motivation making it harder to engage with their work.
This matters even more so at this time of year, with sleep often getting disrupted when it’s needed the most. Feelings of stress can make it harder to switch off and poor sleep can make it more difficult to concentrate, manage pressure and feel on top of things.
Research published in Nature found that sleep quality, duration and consistency in the weeks before exams accounts for nearly a quarter of the differences in academic performance. This tells us that sleep isn’t an optional extra during this time, it’s a significant part of exam preparation.
Knowing what helps is only a part of it
Most students already know that sleep is important. The challenge under exam pressure is that those protective habits we might have had in place often become the first things to go. Many of us fall into patterns of late nights, using screens before bed, going to sleep and waking up at irregular times, perhaps also relying on caffeine to ‘get us through’. And while they’re all really understandable responses to pressure, they do work against what students need most at this time.
Research on sleep hygiene in university students consistently shows a gap between awareness and practice. Students know what helps but building and maintaining those habits consistently, especially when workload peaks, is where the real difficulty lies.
Turning that into something that works in real life
We think this is where the focus needs to shift, because it’s not just about knowing what helps (although that’s a really good start) but it’s about finding ways to create habits that actually work in day-to-day life, especially when things feel busy or under pressure. This could mean starting small, changing our routines or finding approaches that are realistic rather than ideal.
Good sleep is less about willpower and more about routine. Some key ingredients are having a regular sleep schedule, intentional wind-down time in the evenings, reducing screen time before bed as well as managing stimulants like caffeine during the day, rather than relying on them to bolster us after poor sleep. Our mornings matter too, and building a routine which creates natural alertness is more sustainable than running on strong coffee.
How Mindapples can help
Our Sleep Well session is designed with this in mind. It goes beyond sharing information and engages students in reflective discussion around what gets in their way of sleep and together we explore practical ways of building habits that feel manageable and sustainable.We explore the science of sleep, thinking about why it matters, what’s happening in the brain, and what can get in the way of helpful sleep. We work together to think about how these fit into their own daily routines while at university.
The workshop is designed to be delivered at points in the academic year when students need it the most. It sits within our wider student wellbeing progamme, offering support at different points in their university journey, from starting as a fresher through to managing periods of exam pressure.
If you would like to find out how Sleep Well could support your students this exam season, get in touch at universities@mindapples.org
You can also download and share our free tipsheet on how to Sleep Well.