Sleep Boosts GPA: Simple Nightly Incentives Lift College Grades
A field experiment with 1,149 college students assigned to a treatment group that received Fitbit sleep tracking plus reminders to reach at least 7 hours of sleep and a small nightly cash incentive ($4.75 for four weeks). The control group wore Fitbits but had no sleep guidance. During the intervention, the treatment group met their 7-hour goal on 26% more nights and slept about 19 extra minutes per night, with effects persisting after incentives ended (about 8 minutes). Linking to official transcripts showed a GPA increase of roughly 0.075–0.089 points during the intervention semester, with similar gains into the next semester, suggesting a causal link between better sleep and academic performance and indicating the approach could be low-cost for schools and workplaces alike.