The Impact of Sleep Quality on Academic Performance in
Adolescents
Ganyuan Zhang
School of Hangzhou World Foreign Language School, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Keywords: Adolescent Sleep Quality, Academic Performance, Daytime Sleepiness, Anxiety and Depression, Internet
Use Time.
Abstract: In the highly competitive society of modern academic pressure, most middle school students choose to give
up sleep to study and achieve higher scores. Therefore, the relationship between academic performance and
sleep quality is an important topic for exploring the healthy development of adolescents. This article explores
the direct relationship between sleep and academic performance. Low quality sleep such as sleep disorders,
insomnia, and daytime sleepiness are examined through the cerebral cortex and cognitive function of
adolescents. Lifestyle habits are also a key factor to explore, which is related to the physical fitness of
adolescents. The third research perspective starts from the psychological problems of adolescents, such as
anxiety and depression as the research subjects associated with sleep quality and academic performance. The
article also investigated the relationship between eating at night and watching electronic screens before
bedtime leading to insomnia. Whether anxiety acts as a mediator to affect the relationship between sleep
quality and academic performance remains to be verified, and data collection methods need to be optimized.
Further in-depth exploration is needed in the field of biology, brain, and neurology to obtain different results
from different disciplinary classifications.
1 INTRODUCTION
Adolescence is a transitional period in which
adolescents gradually develop into adults (Kohyama,
2021). Teenagers may experience significant physical
changes and begin to form adolescent self-awareness
development. Teenagers begin to explore their roles
and positioning in society, preparing for their future
integration into society. Academic pressure will
increase and promote the improvement of thinking
ability. Chinese students have to face the college
entrance examination, which is closely related to their
future university studies and job hunting. Due to the
immense academic pressure, many students overlook
the factor of sleep. Staying up late to study for grades
leads to a lack of sleep, which has a certain impact on
their academic performance. Therefore, the sleep
quality of teenagers is worth paying attention to.
Some students attribute their poor grades to their lack
of effort. However, in reality, they lack sleep, and
their brains do not get enough rest, resulting in a
decline in their thinking ability. This study can help
teenagers recognize the importance of sleep.
As people age, people’s sleep intake decreases
due to internal factors such as screen time use,
extracurricular activities, evening diet, accumulation
of daytime stress, and morning shift schedules.
Subjective metrics of sleep quality have encompassed
aspects such as the profundity of sleep, the state of
rest, the presence of non - restorative nocturnal sleep,
the experience of drowsiness, and the sensation of
requiring additional sleep within a span of three days
or less during the previous week. Family lifestyle is
positioned as an external factor. A deterioration in
sleep quality has the potential to precipitate an array
of maladies, a regression in cognitive function, subpar
academic achievements, a diminution in emotional
self - regulation, an upsurge in behavioral issues, and
chronic deleterious impacts on diverse metabolic
systems, along with an increased propensity for
obesity. Multiple determinants, such as genetic,
behavioral, medical, and environmental elements, can
exert an influence on an individual's sleep quantity.
Thus, prior to assessing the correlation between sleep
quantity and other variables, it is imperative to gauge,
for each person, the ideal sleep duration as well as the
divergence from their personal ideal sleep quantity.
Drowsiness is a potential candidate for evaluating
executive function better than sleep volume and is
considered one of the issues reflecting sleep quality.
584
Zhang, G.
The Impact of Sleep Quality on Academic Performance in Adolescents.
DOI: 10.5220/0014146800004942
Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Applied Psychology and Marketing Management (APMM 2025), pages 584-589
ISBN: 978-989-758-791-7
Proceedings Copyright © 2026 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda.

The investigation of sleep quality in adolescents is
still limited, and clear standards for evaluating sleep
quality have not yet been established. Sleep is related
to biology, psychology, and other unknown aspects.
To unearth the nuances of adolescent sleep quality,
more in - depth and comprehensive research is
imperative.
Besides the decline in learning caused by memory
impairment, personal emotions are also one of the
factors that interfere with learning (Valiente et al.,
2012). Personal emotions play an important role, and
in the direct correlation between emotions and
academic functions, negative emotional reactions and
individual differential emotions play a prominent role
in many social patterns. It is more arduous to discern
and differentiate positive emotions. Moreover, scant
evidence exists to imply a link between positive
emotions or personality characteristics in children
and their academic accomplishments. Emotions such
as joy, hope, and pride exhibit a positive correlation
with students' academic self - efficacy, academic
interest, the exertion of effort, and overall scholastic
attainment. It is postulated that positive emotions
serve to expedite approach - related activities. These
activities, in turn, are apt to bestow academic
advantages, especially when the student is
progressing towards a coveted objective. There is
merit in contemplating the quadratic relationships
between high - intensity positive emotions and
academic proficiency. Cognition serves as a means by
which the correlation between emotions and
academic attainment can be modulated. To begin
with, negative emotions such as anger have a
detrimental impact on academic performance. This is
in part due to the fact that they exert an adverse
influence on advanced cognitive mechanisms and
direct attentional resources towards a restricted range
of behavioral alternatives. Students who are prone to
anger or anxiety may perform poorly through
motivational measures, as these emotions reduce their
motivation to participate in classroom activities,
which is an important predictor of their academic
success. Anxiety can have a negative impact on
students' thinking and mentality. In the classroom,
students may be unable to concentrate on listening to
the content due to anxiety. Their attention span may
become shorter, and they may not be able to register
what the teacher is saying. It is not the case that all
emotions are apt to be connected to achievement in
identical manners or due to identical rationales.
Previous studies have explored the negative
effects of individual internal factors, including dietary
habits, screen use, emotional stress, etc., on
adolescents. At the biomedical level, long-term
effects such as familial genes and genetic diseases
may gradually lead to symptoms of drowsiness and
insomnia. The negative emotions and anxiety of
adolescent students need to be closely monitored,
which is closely related to their academic
performance. Whether they maintain interest or
concentration in learning, as well as perfect
interpersonal relationships and effective social
support, all require constant attention. The
intermediate relationship between sleep quality and
academic performance among adolescents still needs
further exploration. With the development of the
internet, teenagers have increased the use time of
electronic products. There are also psychological
disorders caused by internal stress, such as anxiety
and depression, which reflect poor sleep and
decreased learning. Social time difference is a new
definition that explains whether learning is important
or giving up learning to maintain sleep is important.
These will be worth a more comprehensive summary
and interpretation.
2 LIFESTYLE RELATED
FACTORS AND THE
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
AND SLEEP
2.1 The Overall Link Between Sleep
and Academic Performance
Longitudinal studies can comprehensively explore
the prospective association between insomnia,
daytime sleepiness, and academic performance
among Chinese adolescents. Zhang et al. analysed the
chronological order of academic difficulties caused
by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and insomnia
symptoms at different time points (Zhang et al.,
2022). It is possible that daytime sleepiness plays an
important mediating role between sleep disorders and
academic performance.
They used a self-reported academic achievement
scale to have students evaluate their overall
performance and assess their academic performance.
They used the Youth Self Rating Scale to ask sleep
related questions (e.g., difficulty initiating sleep,
difficulty maintaining sleep, early morning
awakening, unrefreshing sleep, and poor sleep
quality) to measure the degree of insomnia and
drowsiness scale to inquire about the overall feelings
The Impact of Sleep Quality on Academic Performance in Adolescents
585

of adolescents over the past month to study daytime
sleepiness.
It found that insomnia and EDS have a strong
correlation with academic performance. During the
first year of follow-up, 15-17% of adolescents had
insomnia symptoms, and 21-24% of adolescents
experienced daytime sleepiness. One year later, a
decrease in math scores was found during follow-up,
and the proportion of poor grades increased. Insomnia
is significantly associated with overall poor
performance. Insufficient sleep, augmented daytime
somnolence, and compromised cognitive function
can be induced by insomnia. These consequences, in
turn, are prone to exert a detrimental influence on
academic performance. Not only does insomnia have
an adverse effect on academic achievement, but EDS
also has a negative impact on it. Moreover, the impact
of insomnia on academic performance is conveyed
through the medium of excessive daytime sleepiness.
Insomnia can lead to a decrease in learning
efficiency. However, in the study of time span, it was
found that the impact of sleep on academic
performance was not significant. On the contrary,
daytime sleepiness plays a strong mediating role
between insomnia and academic performance. This
study cannot elucidate why EDS has different
mediating effects on academic performance in
different disciplines. As language is a complex
learning process, further longitudinal research on
neurobiology is needed.
2.2 Lifestyle, Sleep, and Academic
Performance
Lifestyle includes screen time, studying time,
moderate to vigorous physical activity practice, time
spent on social medias, eating and sleeping habits. If
teenagers use screens for too long, it may cause
emotional problems and disrupt sleep. It is also
possible to ignore time, resulting in staying up late,
shortening sleep time, and making it difficult to enter
a deep sleep state. In the study by Dubuc et al.
studying how students' daily habits affect their
academic performance (Dubuc et al., 2020). The
reascher collect data on academic performance
through the final transcript of students by the school.
Students reflect their lifestyle habits by answering a
self-report test. They used a software on a computer
to observe students' reactions to the changes in arrows
on the screen to evaluate inhibitory control.
It found that the academic performance of
teenagers declines between grades 1 and 3, during
which their work, study, physical activity, and dietary
habits remain unchanged. Between 1st and 3rd grade,
teenagers' use of television and video games
significantly decreases, while by 3rd grade, teenagers
begin to spend more time on social media. Students
sleep later and have shorter sleep times in third grade.
Screen usage time is negatively correlated with
academic performance and cognitive control.
Teenagers watching TV and using electronic devices
for less than an hour will reflect higher academic
performance. Good eating habits are related to better
academic performance. Academic accomplishment
was found to have an inverse relationship with every
variable pertaining to screen time. Moreover, among
high - school students, there are pronounced
associations among lifestyle patterns, cognitive self -
regulation, and academic attainment. The
deficiencies in students' self-living habits can
interfere with sleep and indirectly affect the sleep
quality of adolescents.
In addition to the influence of electronic screen
usage time, lifestyle habits such as physical activity,
dietary habits, and social support that affect self-
esteem and academic pressure in adolescents can also
be linked to their academic performance, which is
reflect through students' grade point average (GPA).
In the study by Maniaci at el. the relationship between
healthy lifestyle of adolescents and their academic
performance (Maniaci et al., 2023). The basic
information of the interviewees was elicited through
the employment of the questionnaire. The
information of age, sex, marital status, occupation,
and residential residence, as well as GPA was
collected. The survey also investigated diet, views on
self-psychological pressure, internet addiction, height
and weight, evaluators' support for society and
measurement of self-esteem. Assess students' GPA
based on written warning records received during the
exam period.
It found that Academic performance can be
improved by adopting a healthy diet. There is no
positive correlation between good dietary habits and
students' self-esteem. Unhealthy diet is negatively
correlated with sleep duration. Academic
performance and sleep habits are negatively affected
by internet addiction that survey supports the
previous statement that screen usage can have a
negative impact on adolescent academic performance
and the sleep time of internet addicted patients is
significantly shortened Perceived social support is
negatively correlated with internet use. Less social
support may be a risk factor for adolescent internet
addiction. Teenagers may experience poor physical
fitness and sleep quality due to unhealthy lifestyle
habits, lack of exercise, and unhealthy diet, ultimately
affecting academic performance. Students' academic
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performance may be detrimentally affected by
academic stress. In contrast, academic achievement
shows a positive association with a robust sense of
social support within the family.
With the development of science and technology,
the internet is an important factor for the healthy
development of young people. The internet usage
may act as an intermediary factor to affect sleep and
academic performance. Teenagers who use the
internet too much will produce nervous excitement
and affect sleep. Or teenagers' infatuation with the
internet reduces their motivation for learning. This is
an area worth exploring. The evaluation of internet
usage duration is primarily accomplished by
examining the time dedicated to activities such as
television viewing, video - game playing, internet
surfing, and mobile - phone utilization.
In the study by Adelantado-Renau and colleagues
(Adelantado-Renau et al., 2019). They explored the
relationship between sleep quality and academic
performance through internet use time as a mediator.
Assessing students' sleep status and data through a
sleep index survey questionnaire and the duration of
daily sleep was measured using an accelerometer.
Starting from the first year of high school, students'
academic performance is evaluated using a 10-point
final grade system. They use a specially designed
questionnaire to ask teenagers whether they work on
weekdays or weekends
It found that self-reported better sleep quality is
associated with higher academic performance.
Students with high sleep index have better academic
performance than those with poor sleep. Social
networks and internet usage can increase physical and
emotional arousal, thereby disrupting sleep quality.
The bright light emitted by the screen before bedtime
may have an acute warning effect. Online time may
replace study time, and poor sleep quality may lead to
a decline in academic performance. Long term use of
the internet will affect the prefrontal cortex to reduce
the quality of sleep, and finally lead to cognitive
impairment, which is affect attention and reduce
academic performance. It proves that internet use
time plays a mediating role between sleep quality and
academic performance.
3 THE ROLES OF ANXIETY AND
DEPRESSION IN THE
RELATIONSHIP
In addition to students' lifestyle habits, their own
anxiety issues also need to be carefully examined.
Anxiety refers to a psychological state characterized
by excessive worry, fear, unease, and other emotions.
Students may experience anxiety due to concerns
about grades, which can affect their sleep quality.
Zhang et al. Investigated the relationship between
sleep quality, anxiety, and academic performance
among Chinese high school students (Zhang et al.,
2021). The frequency at which electronic devices are
utilized, the timing of their usage, the selection of said
devices, as well as the intent behind the screen, and
time engagement were used to obtain information on
screen usage time among teenagers. They used the
self-report to assess the daily anxiety levels of
adolescents. They assessed sleep disturbances and
also used scales to investigate functions related to
sleep impairment such as drowsiness, exhaustion,
alertness, and wakefulness.
Research findings indicated that a lengthier sleep
duration, in tandem with a higher prevalence of sleep
disorders, was associated with a decline in academic
standing. Paradoxically, students experiencing more
profound sleep-related disruptions yet having longer
sleep hours tended to exhibit superior academic
performance compared to those with fewer sleep -
disorder manifestations or shorter sleep periods.
Moreover, it was observed that individuals who
engaged with electronic screens prior to bedtime were
more prone to encountering significant sleep disorder
issues. An increase in anxiety can lead to an increase
in sleep disturbances and sleep related impairment.
However, the survey results indicate that there is no
explicit relationship between students' anxiety
symptoms and academic performance. This is
contrary to the assumption that anxiety can lead to a
decrease in grades. This may be due to the Confucian
academic background in China, where students
sacrifice their sleep time to learn and demonstrate
better academic performance.
Social jetlag refers to the difference in sleep time
caused by insufficient sleep among teenagers due to
workdays, resulting in delayed wake-up times on
weekends. Social jetlag can have a negative impact
on the physical and mental health of teenagers,
causing irritability. This may be one of the sources of
anxiety. In the study by Tamura at el. exploring the
correlation between social jet lag and irritability
among Japanese adolescents and the relationship
between daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and poor
academic performance (Tamura et al., 2022). Inquire
about bedtime and sleep duration to assess social jet
lag (i.e., delays and wake-up time on weekdays and
weekends). They used problem assessment to assess
students' daytime functional impairment in the
previous month.
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It found that the higher the level of social time
difference reaction among students. Students with a
social time difference of equalling to or greater than
1 hour sleep late, wake up late, and sleep longer
compared to students with a social time difference of
0 to less than 1 hour. Compared to a reference point
of 0, the adverse social jetlag experienced by students
is manifested in their late - night bedtimes and
tardiness. Those students who endure more
pronounced social jetlag are more prone to exhibit an
irritable disposition, sleep deprivation, daytime
somnolence, and a deterioration in academic
achievement. Moreover, students grappling with
negative social jetlag display marked fatigue and
subpar academic performance. The experiment also
found that when the social time difference is greater
than 1, it can lead to poor mental state and anxiety.
This is related to the increased risk of poor academic
performance. This research has shown that students
with significant social time differences may
experience daytime sleepiness, leading to irritable
mood and anxiety, which is related to a decline in
academic performance. Contrary to hypothesis,
negative social jet lag only leads to fatigue and has a
negative impact on academic performance.
In the modern competitive environment,
teenagers may choose to give up sleep in order to
achieve their academic goals. Depressive symptoms
can also become a part of relationship. Assuming that
students with poor sleep quality and spending more
time on study are more likely to experience
depressive symptoms and have poorer health
conditions. In the study by Sing et al. the impact of
this self-rated was investigated in school (Yeo et al.,
2019). Students were asked to evaluate adolescents'
sleep behavior on school days and weekends by
answering questionnaires reporting their bedtime,
wake-up time, and nighttime sleep. Several
symptoms related to sleep were also examined,
including daytime sleepiness, school day napping,
caffeine use, sleep latency period, reasons for waking
up on school days, sleep quality, prolonged weekend
night sleep, and weekend napping. They distributed
self-assessment questionnaires to collect health data
and assess the severity of depression.
It found that teenagers with poorer self-evaluation
have lower sleep quality. Overweight and depressive
symptoms in terms of health can also affect sleep.
Late onset of sleep patterns, lower levels of parental
supervision before bedtime, spending more time on
studying, school hours, and longer travel time can all
cause sleep disorders. In addition, socio-cultural
differences may lead to sleep deprivation and have a
negative impact on the health of adolescents. This
confirms that sleep disorders can cause depressive
symptoms and interfere with academic performance.
After exploring depression as one of the anxiety
factors, longitudinal studies are needed to investigate
the impact of anxiety, depression, and sleep on
academic performance. The duration of sleep and
academic performance may also be influenced by
various factors.
Evanger et al. explored the relationship between
high school students' sleep duration, insomnia,
depression, anxiety and school performance (Evanger
et al., 2024). They used questionnaires to assess self-
reported sleep status of students on school and free
day. The Insomnia Scale is a six item self-report
questionnaire used to assess the insomnia status of
adolescents. They used a health questionnaire to
assess symptoms of depression in adolescents. The
academic performance data of school participants is
collected through their respective school
management departments. It found that at
longitudinally, the longer the sleep duration, the
milder insomnia symptoms are, and the diagnosis of
insomnia at the negative baseline of screening both
predict better GPA at 2 years. The higher the level of
depressive symptoms or above the critical value, the
lower the development of GPA is. There is no
longitudinal correlation between anxiety symptoms
and GPA development. Students who sleep longer
tend to perform better academically than those who
sleep less. A two-year longitudinal study found that
prolonged sleep duration resulted in higher average
score points. In contrast, insomnia symptoms have
increased within two years, leading to an increase in
anxiety and depression. There is no vertical
correlation between anxiety and academic
performance, but there is a vertical correlation
between sleep duration and academic performance.
4 CONCLUSION
Sleep disorders such as daytime sleepiness and
insomnia have been found to worsen through
longitudinal studies, leading to a decline in academic
performance among adolescents. Teenagers'
prolonged use of electronic devices in their daily
routine can directly interfere with cognitive function
and emotional fluctuations, causing negative effects
on sleep and loss of interest in learning. The stress
caused by other lifestyle habits such as diet, physical
exercise, and lack of social support will affect a
child's sleep state, and the degree of falling asleep will
ultimately have a certain impact on their intelligence.
The internet, as a medium, interferes with the nervous
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588

layer, disturbs mood, affects sleep or directly
occupies most of the time spent by teenagers in
learning. Anxiety can also cause sleep disorders in
adolescents. Social jetlag is one of the factors that
cause anxiety. Social jetlag affects sleep and
academic performance as well. Depression is also a
potential factor that can have a negative impact on
sleep quality and learning.
However, there are some contradictions in the
experimental results of previous investigations.
Inconsistent results were found regarding the role of
anxiety. The method of obtaining data is using a
psychological self-assessment questionnaire to ask
students to describe changes in their own mentality.
Students may assess their overall psychological
changes based on their recent mood. Therefore, more
objective approaches should have been taken, such as
conducting a questionnaire survey for parents or
teachers to reflect students' anxiety status, to improve
the accuracy of data. In longitudinal studies, tracking
and monitoring the sleep status of adolescents for one
year was conducted to discover the significant
relationship between sleep quality and academic
performance. The data obtained from a one-year
longitudinal study is not sufficient, and future studies
should be expanded to a three-year longitudinal
design in order to obtain a more comprehensive
findings regarding the relationship between sleep
quality and academic performance.
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