The research, published in the Journal of Political Economy, examined whether improving students’ sleep could directly influence their grades. Researchers say the study is the first field experiment of its kind to demonstrate a causal link between better sleep and improved academic performance. Students encouraged to sleep for at least 7 hoursFor the intervention, all participants were provided with Fitbit wearable devices to monitor their sleep. Although the effect became smaller, students were still sleeping about eight minutes longer per night compared with their baseline levels. However, they said the results are significant because previous research had largely established a correlation between sleep and academic performance rather than demonstrating that improving sleep itself could cause better educational outcomes.