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Lower school performance in late chronotypes: underlying factors and mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: Success at school determines future career opportunities. We described a time-of-day specific disparity in school performance between early and late chronotypes. Several studies showed that students with a late chronotype and short sleep duration obtain lower grades, suggesting that early school starting times handicap their performance. How chronotype, sleep duration, and time of day impact school performance is not clear. At a Dutch high school, we collected 40,890 grades obtained in a variety of school subjects over an entire school year. We found that the strength of the effect of chronotype on grades was similar to that of absenteeism, and that late chronotypes were more often absent. The difference in grades between the earliest 20% and the latest 20% of chronotypes corresponds to a drop from the 55th to 43rd percentile of grades. In academic subjects using mainly fluid cognition (scientific subjects), the correlation with grades and chronotype was significant while subjects relying on crystallised intelligence (humanistic/linguistic) showed no correlation with chronotype. Based on these and previous results, we can expand our earlier findings concerning exam times: students with a late chronotype are at a disadvantage in exams on scientific subjects, and when they are examined early in the day.

SUBMITTER: Zerbini G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5491513 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Lower school performance in late chronotypes: underlying factors and mechanisms.

Zerbini Giulia G van der Vinne Vincent V Otto Lana K M LKM Kantermann Thomas T Krijnen Wim P WP Roenneberg Till T Merrow Martha M

Scientific reports 20170629 1

Success at school determines future career opportunities. We described a time-of-day specific disparity in school performance between early and late chronotypes. Several studies showed that students with a late chronotype and short sleep duration obtain lower grades, suggesting that early school starting times handicap their performance. How chronotype, sleep duration, and time of day impact school performance is not clear. At a Dutch high school, we collected 40,890 grades obtained in a variety ...[more]

PMID: 28663569

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Nutrition is one of many factors affecting the cognitive development of children. In Cambodia, 55% of children <5 y were anemic and 40% stunted in 2010. Currently, no data exists on the nutritional status of Cambodian school-aged children, or on how malnutrition potentially affects their cognitive development. OBJECTIVE: To assess the anthropometric and micronutrient status (iron, vitamin A, zinc, iodine) of Cambodian schoolchildren and their associations with cognitive performance. METHODS: School children aged 6-16 y (n = 2443) from 20 primary schools in Cambodia were recruited. Anthropometry, hemoglobin, serum ferritin, transferrin receptors, retinol-binding protein and zinc concentrations, inflammation status, urinary iodine concentration and parasite infection were measured. Socio-economic data were collected in a sub-group of children (n = 616). Cognitive performance was assessed using Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM) and block design and picture completion, two standardized tests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III). RESULTS: The prevalence of anemia, iron, zinc, iodine and vitamin A deficiency were 15.7%; 51.2%, 92.8%, 17.3% and 0.7% respectively. The prevalence of stunting was 40.0%, including 10.9% of severe stunting. Stunted children scored significantly lower than non-stunted children on all tests. In RCPM test, boys with iron-deficiency anemia had lower scores than boys with normal iron status (-1.46, p<0.05). In picture completion test, children with normal iron status tended to score higher than iron-deficient children with anemia (-0.81; p = 0.067) or without anemia (-0.49; p = 0.064). Parasite infection was associated with an increase in risk of scoring below the median value in block design test (OR = 1.62; p<0.05), and with lower scores in other tests, for girls only (both p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Poor cognitive performance of Cambodian school-children was multifactorial and significantly associated with long-term (stunting) and current nutritional status indicators (iron status), as well as parasite infection. A life-cycle approach with programs to improve nutrition in early life and at school-age could contribute to optimal cognitive performance.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Obesity is associated with vascular risk factors that in turn, may increase dementia risk. However, higher body mass index (BMI) in late life may be neuroprotective. The possible neural mechanisms underlying the benefit of higher BMI on cognition in older adults are largely unknown. Thus, we used functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) to examine: (1) the relationship between BMI and functional brain connectivity; and (2) the mediating role of functional brain connectivity in the association between baseline BMI and change in cognitive function over a 12-month period. METHODS:We conducted a 12-month, prospective study among 66 community-dwelling older adults, aged 70 to 80 years, who were categorized as: normal weight (BMI from 18.50 to 24.99); overweight (BMI from 25.00 to 29.99); and obese (BMI ? 30.00). At baseline, participants performed a finger-tapping task during fMRI scanning. Relevant neural networks were initially identified through independent component analysis (ICA) and subsequently examined through seed-based functional connectivity analysis. At baseline and 12-months, we measured three executive cognitive processes: (1) response inhibition; (2) set shifting; and (3) working memory. RESULTS:Obese individuals showed lower task-related functional connectivity during finger tapping in the default mode network (DMN) compared with their healthy weight counterparts (p < 0.01). Lower task-related functional connectivity in the DMN at baseline was independently associated with better working memory performance at 12-months (p = 0.02). Finally, DMN functional connectivity during finger tapping significantly mediated the relationship between baseline BMI and working memory at 12-months (indirect effect: -0.155, 95% confidence interval [-0.313, -0.053]). CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that functional connectivity of the DMN may be an underlying mechanism by which higher BMI confers protective effects to cognition in late life.

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Lower school performance in late chronotypes: underlying factors and mechanisms.

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Lower school performance in late chronotypes: underlying factors and mechanisms.

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